WHITE COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Nearly a dozen White County vape shops have found themselves in hot water following an undercover sting operation that caught several vape shop employees selling to minors.
Vapes in Tennessee continue to get into the wrong hands. A 2024 report found 22% of teens in the state are vaping, which is more than twice the national average. In White County, a sting operation ended in 13 buys from 11 stores. Two stores sold to minors twice over the course of the operation.
“If it were up to the sheriff, I’d be taking lock chains and putting them on their doors and locking their doors because they are absolutely hurting the juveniles in this county,” White County sheriff Steve Page said. “We have multiple kids all the time — in the middle schools especially — and high school, that’s bringing them in like a candy bar and they don’t realize what they’re doing to [themselves].”
Page said this is the second vape sting operation his office has conducted in two years, with multiple employees caught selling to people under 21 during the last operation, too.
“An underage person can just walk in the store and they tell you they don’t have their license with them,” Page said. “[If] you sell it to them anyway, you’re breaking the law and you’re contributing to ruining this person’s life.”
The problem isn’t exclusive to just White County. Within the past year, the Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office caught six stores selling vapes or tobacco to minors. In recent years, Wilson County officials cited 11 vape store workers for the same thing, and Hendersonville Police cited another four.
Lebanon police added that they’ve cited at least 14 people for selling age-restricted products to minors, including two repeats.
In the White County sting operation, Page said one clerk even told the minor to bring friends.
“They really need to focus on this and pass some laws that would protect our young people,” Page said. “You know as well as I do that it’s not severe enough or it wouldn’t be happening.”
Page would like to see laws giving jail time to employees found selling to minors more than once.
“I will be showing up again, I promise,” Page added. “We will do it again. You never know when it’s going to happen. Do not be selling to people who are underage.”
