A Watsonville man was sentenced to more than 25 years in state prison for human trafficking, sexual assault and drug crimes against minors, according to a release from the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office.
Luis Alberto Salas, 36, pleaded no contest to multiple counts of human trafficking involving minors and additional charges in Santa Cruz Superior Court on Aug. 29.
The conviction and sentence is the result of a multi-agency investigation of Salas’ Snapchat, which he used to contact and exploit minors throughout the county in 2023 and 2024. The investigation, led by the sheriff’s office, found that Salas had contacted minors through the social media platform to offer drugs in exchange for sex.
Lookout previously reported that Salas was facing 42 counts on charges including contacting a minor with the intent for sex, kidnapping, false imprisonment and drug crimes. Police said he used multiple different Snapchat usernames to contact minors. The sheriff’s office issued a warning to local guardians and parents of minors following his September 2024 arrest to be cautious about their children’s use of social media.
“This result belongs to the survivors who spoke up and to the investigators who did the hard work to corroborate them,” said Assistant District Attorney Jason Gill, who was the prosecutor on the case. “Human traffickers exploit vulnerabilities and use social media to avoid detection and commit these heinous crimes against the youth of our community.”
“Protecting our youth is a top priority. This plea reaffirms our office’s dedication to dismantling human-trafficking networks both online and within our communities, while supporting survivors at every stage,” said District Attorney Jeff Rosell.
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