Hanover County, Virginia lies within the Richmond metropolitan area, and has a population of approximately 110,000. Prostitution activity has been well-documented within the city and surrounding communities, and in unincorporated areas of the county. This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates results in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses. Among the more serious crimes associated with the local commercial sex market is sex trafficking. For example, in 2018, a Hanover County man who allegedly responded to an online listing advertising sex with a child posted by undercover federal agents was indicted. The 83 year old man responded to a Craigslist advertisement and sought to pay to sexually abuse an 11-year-old girl, who was actually several undercover special agents with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Homeland Security. An undercover special agent with the NCIS posted an advertisement on Craigslist referencing a man trying to sell his underage daughter for sexual abuse on a military base, according to a criminal complaint filed in circuit court. The man responded to ask for the email address of the man referenced in the post, and he began sending emails the next day. In some he explicitly asked to meet the underage girl for sex, court documents said. They communicated over email for months, and eventually met to complete the transaction, where he was arrested. He was indicted by a grand jury for attempted rape, using electronic means to commit a child sex crime, prostitution, and sex trafficking.