Serial sex predator jailed for luring teen girls to his van with drugs

A serial sex predator who was luring teenage girls to his van was only caught after his mum found the 15-year-old victims while he was at work.

A “disturbing” serial predator on the sex offender register has been jailed after being caught luring teen girls to his van by his mum.

Samuel Cooper repeatedly preyed on teenage girls using social media, offering drugs and cash in exchange for sex.

The 39-year-old was arrested in August last year after meeting up with two 15-year-old girls at their New South Wales home before taking them to a motel and then to his house in Victoria.

He gave them cannabis and ice in a bid to groom them before leaving them in his van.

Cooper’s mother discovered them in his vehicle while he was at work and the girls later contacted their families, who alerted police.

At the time of his offending Cooper was on the sex offenders’ register after a 2009 conviction for sexual activity with a child and was required to report contact with anyone underage.

He was jailed for six years at the Victorian County Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to more than 20 offences.

On a separate occasion, he exchanged sexually explicit images with another 15-year-old and spent the night with her in his van.

The court heard Cooper sent dozens of messages and sexually explicit images to girls over Facebook between January 2016 and November 2017.

He offered two teenagers hundreds of dollars for sex, but they declined his advances.

Judge Meryl Sexton labelled his behaviour disgusting.

“Over a period of nearly two years you persistently preyed on a large number of underage females using social media,” she said.

“The internet makes it all too easy for sexually deviant people like you to access girls for your own sexual gratification.

“Further, you followed through with personal contact with three of them, who were not emotionally or socially mature enough to realise the danger they were placing themselves in.” Judge Sexton said Cooper, who lied about his age, had sought to take sexual advantage of the teenagers.

“In my view you have no insight into your paraphilic attraction to post-pubertal females,” she said.

Cooper must serve a minimum of four years before he is eligible for parole.