The “independent” law firm that Fairfax County Public Schools hired to investigate its handling of a groping case involving an illegal immigrant provides pro bono immigration assistance and coaches clients on how to elude deportation authorities.Earlier this year, FCPS retained McGuireWoods, the largest law firm in Virginia, as an “objective” investigator to review whether the Northern Virginia school district properly dealt with a string of sexual assaults on school property committed by now-convicted illegal immigrant Israel Flores Ortiz.Ortiz, a nearly 19-year-old foreign national in the U.S. illegally from El Salvador, allegedly groped roughly a dozen young girls on different occasions in the hallways of Fairfax High School.
The victims reported to police that Ortiz, an FCPS student enrolled in 11th grade, approached them from behind and grabbed their private parts by reaching between the girls’ thighs. A judge later found Ortiz guilty of nine counts of assault and battery out of 13 total assault charges, sentencing him to 360 days in jail plus probation.
McGuireWoods finds FCPS acted ‘appropriately’
FCPS Superintendent Michelle Reid announced in a districtwide statement this week that McGuireWoods has cleared the school administration of any wrongdoing in how it handled multiple reports of Ortiz sexually assaulting female students between classes.
