Deputies in Loudoun County, Virginia, issued citations to several store clerks for selling vaping products to underage customers.

Deputies in Loudoun County, Virginia, issued citations to several store clerks for selling vaping products to underage customers.

The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office conducted a vaping operation on Friday, issuing tickets to six people who sold Juul pods to customers under the age of 21, a news release said.

Since July 2019, people in Virginia who are under 21 years old are prohibited from purchasing tobacco and vaping products containing nicotine. The sale of these products to people who are underage is also prohibited.

Deputies visited 33 stores in the Ashburn Station area, and found 11 stores stopped selling vaping products and nine have driver’s license scanners invalidating the sale of tobacco and vaping products if the buyer is under 21.

It was in six of the 13 stores left that deputies observed the clerks selling the products to underage customers.

“The operation sends a clear message to shop owners to take the appropriate steps to ensure tobacco, vape, and alcohol products are not making it into the wrong hands. It’s the law,” said Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman in a statement.

In response to an outbreak of vaping-related deaths in the U.S. last year, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office launched an educational campaign to warn parents and teenagers on the dangers of vaping.