When Spotsylvania County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ryan Mehaffey released a statement last month reporting the guilty plea of Miguel Velasquez Velasco to 13 sexual assault offenses against children related to his conduct as an aide on a special needs school bus, there was one detail in his Facebook post that drew the ire of county residents.
Mehaffey noted that, on Sept. 11, 2024, a concerned father reported that Velasco had touched his 8-year-old, wheelchair-bound daughter in a way that made her feel uncomfortable. However, Mehaffey’s statement added that the abuse continued until Sept. 26, when the bus driver insisted on a thorough review of surveillance footage after she witnessed Velasco behaving suspiciously toward the students.
The review revealed the crimes, which included nine counts of sexual battery, two counts of custodial indecent liberties and one count each of attempted sodomy and simple battery.
Velasco is facing life in prison (his sentence is up to 200 years) when he is sentenced on Nov. 21. But while one public commenter at Monday night’s school board meeting noted the criminal justice system appropriately handled the case and posited that it’s time to move forward, several others questioned the school board and Superintendent Clint Mitchell on Mehaffey’s report of a 15-day delay from the parent’s initial complaint.
“The No. 1 obligation in any school system is the safety of children,” county resident Carla Milsap said. “When a system fails at that, nothing we do matters — not test scores, not budgets, not slogans, not initiatives. Safety comes first, or you’ve lost the whole purpose.”
Virginia law requires mandated reporters, such as school employees to report suspected child abuse or neglect immediately to the local department of social services (DSS) or to the state department of social services via a child abuse and neglect hotline unless the reporter knows someone has already informed DSS of the allegations.
Mehaffey said it’s impossible to know how many more children were abused in the two weeks after the initial report — because surveillance video isn’t completely clear.
Mitchell and Spotsylvania School Board Chair Megan Jackson each declined to comment on Mehaffey’s assertion of the 15-day lapse. Mitchell and Jackson said the school division will release a statement on the case after Velasco is sentenced.
“I’m not going to respond to a post by Mr. Mehaffey. I think he’s the best one to answer that question because I didn’t post it, he did,” Mitchell said. “So, the community is responding to his post. As I’ve always said before and I’m going to maintain it, until this case has been completely adjudicated, I’m not going to speak on it. I have respect for Mr. Mehaffey’s office.”
Mehaffey declined to elaborate on his post to the Free Press, citing respect for the victims’ families. The father of the victim who first reported the abuse declined to comment based on advice from his attorney in an upcoming civil lawsuit.
“I certainly want to stay in my lane, but I’m also very interested in making sure that situation gets addressed,” Mehaffey said. “It was horrible what happened to the kids, and something’s got to change so that doesn’t happen again.”
Speakers on Monday criticized the school board for voting 5-2 to not permit a third-party investigation into the incident. They also blamed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives for Velasco’s hiring, noting that he had been in the U.S. for less than a year and that there was no way division officials could’ve conducted a thorough background check.
“He couldn’t speak English, yet he was placed in charge of our babies,” James Milsap said.
None of the speakers provided any evidence that DEI practices played a role in Velasco’s hiring. Commenters also cited Mitchell’s support of DEI and blamed him for Velasco being employed by SCPS. But the superintendent noted that he took office around the same time Velasco was hired in August 2024.
“I haven’t said a word about it as to whether I hired this person, or if this person was hired by somebody else,” Mitchell said. “What I will say is I started Aug. 1, 2024, and this person started the job in August of 2024, and the public can figure out what that means. My first closed session [when hirings are approved] as superintendent was Aug. 12, 2024, and this person was hired August 2024 … Anybody who has a brain can figure out the pieces.”
Jackson requested that public commenter Shamgar Connors leave the meeting after he addressed the board wearing Hispanic garb, playing music and seemingly mocking Hispanic Heritage Month while criticizing Mitchell and board members over the incident. Connors was also recently warned by Stafford County School Board Chair Maureen Siegmund that antics could lead to him being barred from meetings. Although speaker Jen Petersen said Jackson violated Connors’ First Amendment rights to free speech, Jackson stated that freedom of speech does not mean one will not experience consequences for their words.
Speaker Vanessa Lynch said she’s grown accustomed to Connors’ “racist” behavior but said the graphic term he used to describe what happened to the students on the bus was inexcusable.
“Stop talking about you care about molestation because you don’t,” said Lynch, accusing Connors of seeking attention, “because if you did, you wouldn’t have allowed that nonsense to come out of your mouth.”
