An El Cajon man who forced a 15-year-old girl engage in commercial sex acts for his benefit was sentenced Friday to just over 10 years in federal prison.
Samuel Melvin Cooper, 21, trafficked the girl in San Diego, Phoenix and Tucson, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which said Cooper “intended to leave the 15-year-old victim stranded in Arizona if she did not make enough money through commercial sex work.”
According to investigators with the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, Cooper was also trafficking another 15-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman.
Cooper, who pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking through force, fraud or coercion admitted in his plea agreement that videos found on his cell phone showed him engaging in sex acts with one of the 15-year-old victims and that he was aware she was underage because her date of birth was the unlock code on his phone.
Cooper was sentenced to 121 months in prison.
“We won’t allow children to be bought and sold,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon after the sentencing. “This sentence reflects the profound harm caused when predators exploit minors for profit.”
In the government’s sentencing memo, prosecutors noted that when task force officers tried to interview the first 15-year-old victim after the defendant’s arrest, she was crying hysterically, denied any involvement in prostitution and refused to cooperate with the investigation.
The victim’s mother has written a victim-impact statement to the court about how the girl is still a runaway and lost to her and her family.
“That letter speaks more powerfully to the lasting trauma of living on the streets and being conditioned at such a young age that your worth is tied to commercial sex than any attorney can capture in words,” the government’s memo said.
City News Service contributed to this article.
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