Transgender Substitute Teacher Faces Up to 25 Years for Murder Spree Threat

A transgender former substitute teacher was convicted of threatening to go on a “murder spree” at a Virginia high school. Hadyn James Dollery, a 19-year-old male who reportedly identifies as female and goes by the name “Sophie,” was found guilty Friday on four of the five counts he faced in Loudoun County. The jury convicted him on two counts of threatening to injure or kill a person, one count of making threats on school grounds, and one count of threatening to damage a building. He was acquitted on a third threat count. Prosecutors said the messages went out over Discord at 1:49 a.m. on April 15, the day after Dollery’s boyfriend broke up with him. Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Dircia Schubert told jurors he threatened to kill the ex, the ex’s family and his own, and to carry out a murder spree at the ex’s school. He also described cannibalizing one of the victims after killing them. The ex and another victim reported the messages through Safe2Talk, a school tip app. Officials at John Champe High School, the target of the threats, and Eagle Ridge Middle School, where Dollery worked as a non-licensed substitute, treated them as credible and added security at both schools. Charging documents say the sheriff’s office received the report April 16. Dollery was taken into custody four days later, off school property, and dropped from the district’s substitute list. Jurors also heard about a box cutter in his backpack and phone records showing the device had been used to search Google about blood. Defense attorney Mary Swanson argued the case was a teenage love triangle blown out of proportion. She told jurors it was Dollery’s first breakup and that he had no history of violence. The jury of seven men and five women got the case Thursday afternoon and returned the verdict Friday. Sentencing is set for Jan. 28. The four convictions carry up to 25 years, with no minimum. Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman questioned the division’s hiring practices after the April arrest, saying 18- and 19-year-olds should not be responsible for students and calling it a safety risk. Loudoun County Public Schools allows 19-year-olds to substitute if they hold a high school diploma. Division spokesman Dan Adams answered that the school system employs more than 13,000 people and defended its hiring process. The county’s schools drew national attention in 2021, when a male student assaulted a female classmate in a Stone Bridge High School bathroom and then assaulted another girl at Broad Run High School after being transferred there. A special grand jury said the district “failed at every juncture” and indicted then-Superintendent Scott Ziegler on three misdemeanor counts. Several commenters on the X post of REDUXX, argued the district should never have put Dollery in a classroom, and one said whoever cleared him belongs in prison too.