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Former Northern Virginia choir director pleads guilty to sexual battery of student, avoids jail time

By Neal Augenstein

A former Northern Virginia choir director has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of sexual battery against a former 17-year-old student, and has received a 12-month suspended sentence.

Joel Adam Shapiro, 33, was sentenced Sept. 4 in Loudoun County Circuit Court after entering a plea to the misdemeanor. He was initially charged in 2024 with taking indecent liberties with a child while a custodian, which is a felony.

Prosecutors said Shapiro worked from 2014 to 2017 for Clarke County Public Schools, and had sex several times with the student in his Leesburg home in 2017. He later worked as a choir director in Prince William County Schools from 2017 to 2024, which is when he resigned.

According to a Virginia State Police investigator, the young woman contacted authorities in 2023 and provided pictures, text messages and handwritten notes from Shapiro.

After the plea, Loudoun County prosecutors sought a one-year sentence for Shapiro, the maximum sentence for the Class 1 misdemeanor, according to the Loudoun Times Mirror.

However, visiting Judge Robert J. Smith imposed a 12-month suspended sentence, and ordered Shapiro to provide a DNA sample and register as a sex offender.

Former Brazilian au pair testifies her ex-lover plotted to kill his wife, though lacks some details

By The Associated Press
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A former Brazilian au pair testified on Wednesday that she turned against her former lover in a sprawling double homicide scheme involving his wife because she “wanted the truth to come out.” For more than a year, Juliana Peres Magalhães did not speak with officials about the 2023 killings of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan, or about Brendan Banfield’s alleged involvement. But attorneys say that days before her own criminal trial, the former au pair changed her mind and began to talk. Now, Brendan Banfield is facing a trial in the aggravated murder of his wife and Ryan, and Magalhães’ testimony has become a key component of prosecutors’ case. Banfield, who has pleaded not guilty, could face life in prison if convicted. The way officials tell it, Banfield and Magalhães lured Ryan to their house. The two then shot him, staging the scene to look as if Ryan had been a predator stabbing Christine Banfield.
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