Crime

N.Y. man gets 18 years in prison for sexually exploiting teen girl in Mass.

Sherriff Cooper was also ordered to pay $97,000 in restitution to the victim.

Special Agent in Charge of the FBI, Boston Division, Jodi Cohen said Sherriff Cohen's 18-year prison sentence "removes a dangerous threat from our community, and sends a clear message that human trafficking will not be tolerated.” AP Photo/Steven Senne

By Lindsay Shachnow

August 15, 2024

1 minute to read

A New York City man was sentenced in federal court in Boston on Wednesday to 18 years in prison for sex trafficking a teenage girl, officials announced.

Sherriff Cooper, 37, was also ordered to pay $97,000 in restitution to the minor victim, according to a statement for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“Today’s sentence removes a dangerous threat from our community, and sends a clear message that human trafficking will not be tolerated,” Jodi Cohen, special agent in charge of the FBI, Boston Division, said in the statement.

In 2017, Cooper was working as a security guard at a residential program for pregnant teens when he met the 15-year-old pregnant girl who had run away from Massachusetts Department of Children and Families’ custody, the statement said.

After losing his job in 2018, Cooper began sex trafficking the victim in Boston through threats of violence and coercion, advertising her sexual services online and keeping all the profits, authorities said.

“When he lost his job, Mr. Cooper decided he would rather sex traffic a vulnerable child for financial gain than seek legitimate employment — all the while physically abusing and threatening her,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said in the statement.

The victim was trafficked every single day, the statement said, “except for when she was menstruating and on her birthday.”

Cooper brought the victim to New York and obtained a fake ID for her so she could strip at a club, the office said. Cooper’s violence reportedly increased when he impregnated the victim and she was unable to strip as often.

He was convicted by a federal jury in February of sex trafficking of a minor by force, fraud and coercion, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and forced labor.

“Our thoughts today are with the victim in this case who suffered horrific abuse and courageously came forward and told investigators and the jury what Sherriff Cooper did to her,” Cohen said in the statement. “No child should ever be subjected to sex trafficking, especially by someone in a position of trust.”