Six stores that sell vaping products in Loudoun County, Virginia, got caught selling them to underage buyers Friday.
Since July, you must be 21 or older to buy vaping products in Virginia.
When the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office learned teenagers were still getting their hands on vaping products, it planned Friday’s undercover operation.
The sheriff’s office checked 33 stores. Eleven had stopped selling vaping products. Nine have driver’s license scanners that automatically invalidate the sale to underage individuals. Six had clerks sell to underage buyers working with the sheriff’s office.
Each clerk was released on a summons.
Sese Alriyati calls her Ashburn vape shop a family business. A mother of four, she has signs posted in her store making it clear you have to be 21 to buy vaping and tobacco products.
“We’ve got regulars that come in and we ID everybody,” she said.
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But Friday night an employee sold to an underage woman as part of the sheriff’s office’s undercover operation.
“A decoy came in,” Alrivati said. “Her ID was checked. It did say ’99; it’s just the math wasn’t done correctly. It’s just one of those things. It’s never happened before. This is our first time.”
“What we’re trying to do is everything that we can to get a handle on this and to enforce the law, to educate, to prevent, to teach the parents about how dangerous this is,” Sheriff Mike Chapman said.
D.A.R.E officers have been teaching Loudoun County schoolchildren for years about the dangers of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. Now the dangers of vaping danger are part of the curriculum and conversation.
There’s also a YouTube video for parents.
