A Florida man is being held without bond in the Rappahannock-Shenandoah-Warren (RSW) Regional Jail after being arrested Thursday, May 12, by Front Royal Police officers for allegedly having sex with a juvenile under the age of 15.
FRPD Chief Kahle Magalis said patrol officers were alerted to a possible human trafficking situation regarding an adult who was suspected of having sexual relations with a juvenile.
Upon further investigation, it was discovered that William Chase Mathews, 23, was providing housing for the juvenile and acting as her caretaker. The Florida resident reportedly came to the area recently to provide for the juvenile, whom he had recently met online.
Mathews appeared before a magistrate and was denied bond; he will have a court appearance on June 9, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. in Warren County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
Magalis stated in the release that detectives are seeking any information regarding this case or any other situations in which a minor may have been solicited or exploited. Chief Magalis said in the release that parents should be aware of the social media platforms their children use online and report any suspicious activities to local law enforcement.
The Front Royal Police Department is an active member of the Northern Virginia/DC Metro (NOVA/DC) Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, which is coordinated by the Virginia State Police.
Out of all states and U.S. territories, Virginia ranks 6th for the most human trafficking cases on federal court dockets, according to Kyleigh Feehs, Associate Legal Counsel for the Human
Trafficking Institute, which began compiling statistics on cases in 2017.
That year, there were 783 active criminal and civil human trafficking cases involving 1,930 defendants in the federal court system in the United States. In Virginia, 33 active human trafficking cases in 2017 generated 401 federal charges involving 74 defendants.
Human Trafficking Institute data released in late 2021 shows that two new human trafficking cases were brought to federal court in Virginia, resulting in six people being convicted. The Institute said then that the data release did not consider state cases nor the fact that some courts were shuttered during the Covid pandemic.
Anyone with further information regarding the Front Royal case is encouraged to contact Detective M.R. Ramey at (540) 636-2208 or by email at [email protected].
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