Constable spent years trying to prosecute school librarians over books he hated: report
A deputy constable in northern Texas spent years trying to charge school librarians with felonies over the books they distributed, reported Lonestar Live.
The controversy occured in Granbury, a town of 10,000 people just southwest of Fort Worth, wrote Ileana Garnand. Scott London, a Hood County chief deputy constable, accused three school district librarians of letting kids access books he deemed obscene, the report said.
"He visited schools, spoke to district staff, issued subpoenas, obtained student records and drafted criminal complaints" — all with the intent to secure felony charges for distributing harmful material to a minor, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000.
Read also: Right-wing Moms for Liberty reporting school librarians to law enforcement
Specifically, according to the report, London said libraries distributed "pornography," with the books cited being “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, “Gone” by Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson, “Fade” by Lisa McMann, and three books from Sarah J. Maas’ “A Court of Thorns and Roses” fantasy series.
None of the titles contain pornography. Many contain sexual topics, including abuse of children at schools.
Last month, Hood County District Attorney Ryan Sinclair, a Republican, decided against prosecuting the librarians, due to a lack of evidence — but the years of investigations upended their lives nonetheless, with one of the librarians resigning from the school district.
London is linked to the "Constitutional Sheriffs" movement, an extremist group that believes county sheriffs are the highest authority in America and can nullify federal laws, and unsuccessfully ran for county sheriff last year. He also attempted to launch a local chapter of the Oath Keepers, a far-right paramilitary organization whose leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy for their role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
His efforts, however, echo a broad push around the country by right-wing activists to try to censor the content in school libraries, encouraged by new laws passed in Republican-controlled statehouses that make challenging such books easier. Much of this was led by Moms for Liberty, a group with ties to the Proud Boys.