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.
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 still lost to 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 sentencing memo said.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
