Lima Man Charged with Sex Trafficking Minor Girl

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A registered sex offender has been charged with federal crimes related to sex trafficking a 14-year-old girl.

A federal grand jury has charged Nicholas Salvadore Cochran, 28, of Lima, Ohio, with sex trafficking a minor, sexually exploiting a minor, distributing and possessing child pornography and committing a sex offense while registered as a sex offender in an indictment filed here today.

Cochran was arrested on Aug. 9 as part of Operation Independence Day – a nationwide FBI-led operation to identify and arrest sex traffickers and recover child victims.

Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Todd A. Wickerham, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, Celina Police Chief Thomas Wale, Allen County Sheriff Matthew B. Treglia, Westerville Police Chief Charles Chandler and other members of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force announced the charges.

According to the indictment, last month Cochran caused a minor female victim to engage in commercial sex acts with several men in exchange for money.

Court documents detail that Cochran met the minor victim on Snapchat approximately five months prior.

Phone numbers linked to Cochran were allegedly posted on the website skipthegames.com in the female escorts section. Cochran’s advertisement stated, in part: “…do not attempt to low ball me I can skype and I have duo for verification and i will send one nude No small talk time is money and I don’t like mine wasted…”

Investigation of the advertisements revealed that between July 9 and July 14, Cochran allegedly posted approximately 25 ads for the Lima-Findlay, Dayton and Columbus areas. He allegedly posted ads for sex with the child victim daily, and those ads contained nude photographs of the minor.

Cochran had been convicted of two counts of sexual battery and one count of attempted sexual battery in Henry County in 2009.

Cochran faces up to life in prison.

U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation of this case by the FBI, the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), the Celina and Westerville police departments and the Allen County Sheriff’s Office as well as Assistant United States Attorney Heather A. Hill, who is prosecuting the case.

An indictment merely contains allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

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