CAMPBELL COUNTY, Va. (WFXR) – The Campbell County Sheriff’s Office has announced that ‘Operation Buyer Beware’ has resulted in the arrest of six men connected to prostitution charges.
“The point of Operation Buyer Beware was to send a very clear message to people who are contributing to sex trafficking in Campbell County,” said Sheriff Whit Clark. “Treating people’s bodies as commodities that can be bought or sold is as wrong today as it was at any other time in history. This type of activity fuels sex trafficking in our communities, and it must not be tolerated.”
The sheriff said that on January 2, the CCSO Crime Suppression Unit arrested and charged the following people with Solicitation of Prostitution:
- Joseph A Fitzgerald, 45, of Buena Vista, VA
- Gregory W Cavaliere, 56, of Lynchburg, VA
- Tyler R Seamster, 28, of Saxe, VA
- Richard R Riley, 52, of Madison Heights, VA
- Quinton I Calloway, 27, of Lynchburg, VA
- Mauricio Carmona, 44, of Lynchburg, VA
Officials with the CCSO said the operation was to reduce the demand for “sexual activity that drives sex trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable community members.”
“The Sheriff’s Office will continue to collaborate with our community allies and law enforcement partners to make this area inhospitable to human trafficking.”
The Campbell County Sheriff’s Office encourages community members to get trained to recognize human trafficking and to report suspicious activity to the Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888 and to the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office at 434-332-9580. Training is available from our local partner Freedom 424 and from Virginia DCJS.