/ CBS/AP
Big Stone Gap, Va. — A Virginia high school football coach who disappeared days before his undefeated team’s playoff game is being sought on charges of possessing child pornography and using a computer to solicit a minor, Virginia State Police said Tuesday.
Police said Travis L. Turner, 46, of Appalachia, Virginia, is wanted on warrants obtained Monday for five counts of each charge, adding that additional charges are pending as an investigation continues. They did not share details about what prompted the charges.
Turner has been missing since last Thursday, when state police special agents from a Bureau of Criminal Investigation office were sent to his home, not to arrest him but to talk to him as part of an investigation.As officers traveled there they were notified that he was gone, police said.
The subsequent search nearby has included drones, dogs and rescue teams, police said.Wise County Public Schools said in a statement that Turner “remains on leave and is not permitted on school property or to have contact with students. The division will continue to cooperate with law enforcement as this process moves forward” … READ MORE [free to read]
EARLIER:
CNN – A Virginia high school football coach who has been missing since last week is wanted on child pornography possession and other charges related to soliciting a minor, Virginia State Police announced Tuesday.
State police said they’d learned Thursday that Travis Turner, 46, was missing while they were headed to his home in Appalachia, a western Virginia town of fewer than 2,000 people, as part of an investigation they’d previously not released many details about.
After a dayslong search, state police announced the Union High School head football coach is wanted on five counts of possession of child pornography and five counts of using a computer to solicit a minor.
Ten warrants relating to the charges were obtained Monday, they said, without releasing further details about the allegations.
Before Turner’s disappearance, the football team he coached was undefeated and preparing for a playoff game. The team won that game without him on Saturday, advancing to the regional finals, two games away from a potential state championship, CNN affiliate WCYB reported.
Turner, also listed as a physical education teacher at the high school, was last seen wearing a gray sweatshirt, sweatpants and glasses, VSP said previously without sharing details about when or where he was last seen …
