WASHINGTON — Five teens have been charged with spray-painting hate messages and vulgar images on a historic African-American schoolhouse in Loudoun County earlier this month.
On Thursday, Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said the teens — four 16-year-olds and one 17-year-old from the area — were served juvenile petitions and charged with felony destruction of property and misdemeanor entering property of another for the purpose of damaging it.
The names of the teens aren’t being released because they are juveniles.
The teens spray-painted “white power,” swastikas, crude drawings and profanities on the exterior of the Old Ashburn Schoolhouse on Ashburn Road in the overnight hours of Oct. 1, according to authorities.
The Office of the Loudoun Commonwealth’s Attorney reviewed the case and determined the case did not meet the legal requirements for a hate crime, according to the sheriff’s office.
Days after the crime, Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said its detectives identified the five teens as suspects, but had to go through a specific process with juvenile courts before filing charges.
Old Ashburn Schoolhouse educated black children from 1892 to 1950, when the little schoolhouse was heated by a wood-burning stove and segregated education was the rule in some states including Virginia. The school was one of the few places where African-Americans from the community could get an education.
Since 2014, Loudoun School for the Gifted has been working to restore the one-room schoolhouse. Other community efforts such as bake sales and a GoFundMe page have raised money for the restoration.
Since the vandalism, the community has come together to help restore the historic schoolhouse. Hundreds of volunteers showed up about two weeks ago to repaint and restore the structure.
