El Cajon man gets 10 years for sex trafficking 15-year-old girl in California and Arizona
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An El Cajon man who pleaded guilty to sex trafficking a 15-year-old girl in San Diego, Phoenix and Tucson was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison, according to the U.S.Department of Justice.According to prosecutors, Samuel Melvin Cooper, 21, had driven the teenage girl across state lines into Arizona for the purpose of performing sex work.
Text messages obtained by San Diego law enforcement officials revealed he intended to leave the victim stranded there if she didn’t make him enough money.Cooper was arrested in September 2024 by San Diego police during a traffic stop in an area notorious for street-based prostitution, according to prosecutors.Authorities said he had been using his phone to track two teenage girls, one of whom was the 15-year-old victim and the other an 18-year-old girl — a common practice among pimps.
Cooper pleaded guilty in October 2025 to one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking through force, fraud or coercion.Entertainment & Arts Nathan Chasing Horse, best known for ‘Dances With Wolves,’ gets life in prison a month after he was convicted of sexually assaulting Indigenous women and girls.In his plea, Cooper also admitted to sexually exploiting and prostituting another 15-year-old girl, with full knowledge of her age.
Authorities recovered explicit videos and photographs of Cooper engaging in sexual conduct with the girl.According to the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, her birth year was his phone password.“We won’t allow children to be bought and sold,” said Adam Gordon, U.S.
attorney for the Southern District of California.“This sentence reflects the profound harm caused when predators exploit minors for profit.”Officials said that after Cooper’s arrest, the first victim, a runaway, was crying hysterically and denied any involvement in prostitution.
Her mother, in a letter to the court, said her daughter is ...