First Arrest Made Under New Virginia Sex Trafficking Law

A new state law in Virginia targeting the men behind sex trafficking took effect earlier this month, and the state now claims its first arrest under the new law.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Robert Lewis Dillard, 27, of Jamestown, N.C., was charged with luring women into prostitution in Henrico County last week. He reportedly appeared in court last Thursday, and according to WTOP faces more than a decade in prison.

The new law is aimed at prosecuting the men behind sex trafficking rather than the female victims of the growing practice. The Times-Dispatch reports the new law is also aimed at seeking new avenues for rehabilitation of female sex trafficking victims.

The FBI says human trafficking is the second-fastest growing crime in the U.S.

“Human sex trafficking is the most common form of modern-day slavery,” reads the FBI’s website. “Estimates place the number of its domestic and international victims in the millions, mostly females and children enslaved in the commercial sex industry for little or no money.”

The new sex trafficking law took effect on July 1 as part of a series of new laws in the commonwealth of Virginia. Check out a few of the other new laws throughout the state here.