How police used secret sting operation to catch fugitive soccer coach Travis Turner: Experts reveal youngster porn snare ways
Travis Turner, the fugitive high school football coach wanted on child porn charges, was likely busted in an undercover police sting after shocking online activity set off alarm bells, experts believe.
The married father-of-three, 46, has been on the lam since November 20, when he fled into the wood by his home in Appalachia, Virginia, with a gun in hand – just as police were heading to question him in a child sex crimes investigation.
The multi-agency hunt for Turner is now in its third week, with authorities staying tight-lipped and offering no hint of any major breakthroughs.
But the Daily Mail has spoken to three experts – all of whom say the accused pedophile was likely cornered long before he realized police were onto him.
Criminologist Dr Alex del Carmen said he ‘wouldn’t be surprised’ if Turner ‘took the bait’ of an undercover officer posing as a child while working with a task force to snare child abusers.
‘It’s one of the easiest ways we catch bad guys that are doing this kind of thing,’ Dr del Carmen, who works at Tarleton State University in Texas, told the Daily Mail.
High school football coach Travis Turner has not been seen since November 20 and is now wanted on five counts of possession of child pornography and five counts of using a computer to solicit a minor
Turner, pictured with his wife and family, was head football coach and physical education teacher at Union Gap High School in Stone Gap, Virginia
Del Carmen said it could also be the case that a school parent or someone else heard or saw something and tipped off authorities.
Turner’s alleged crimes may well have been flagged by automated systems used to detect illegal content or were uncovered by IT workers during a routine update of school computers.
Turner’s disappearance was initially a baffling mystery to Union Gap High School students and the local community, but later exploded into a full-blown manhunt when Virginia State Police revealed he was facing 10 charges, including five for possession of child pornography and five for using a computer to solicit a minor.
He has now not been seen for nearly a month, despite the FBI and the US Marshals joining the hunt, and a $5,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
Brian Kohlhepp, a veteran detective with more than 20 years investigating child abuse, sex assault, and suspicious death cases, agreed that there was a ‘good chance’ Turner was snared in an undercover law enforcement sting targeting online child abusers.
‘It’s a common thing law enforcement does to go into chat rooms in an undercover capacity to try to catch individuals who are having sexual conversations with who they believe to be minors,’ said Kohlhepp, now an adjunct faculty expert at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York.
Criminologist Dr Alex del Carmen (left) said Turner may have taken ‘the bait’ of an undercover officer posing as a child. It is also possible the high school teacher’s alleged activity was flagged to police by automated system, according to David Finkelfor, a sociologist and director of the Crimes Against Children and Family Research Lab at the University of New Hampshire
Another expert revealed that child sexual abuse material is now routinely flagged to police by major tech companies who have automated systems in place to report the vile content and wipe it off their platforms.
As a result, law enforcement focus on the referrals they think are the ‘most prosecutable’ – where the images have been clearly established to be qualify under the law – or tips involving adults who have direct access to children.
‘Somebody who is downloading child porn or making child porn and working with children is at greater risk to actually abuse real children in their environment,’ David Finkelfor, a sociologist and director of the Crimes Against Children and Family Research Lab at the University of New Hampshire told the Daily Mail.
‘It could have been simply that Facebook, Meta, Instagram or someone like that, identified an image that was being traded around and then located where it had been uploaded from, and reported it to the police.’
Under Virginia state law, it is illegal for anybody over the age of 18 to communicate electronically with anyone they know or reasonably believe is under the age of 15 to try and solicit them with ‘lascivious intent’ for sexual purposes.
This broadly includes exposing themselves to a child, encouraging a child to expose themselves, proposing the performance of any sexual acts or luring a child to meet for any sexual purposes.
In Virginia, possession of child pornography broadly covers reproducing, including by computer, selling, trading, or sharing abuse content of minors or asking others to share or transfer such content.
Kohlhepp added: ‘It’s hard to say exactly what Turner was doing.
‘What we can assume from the charges is that he was having some sort of contact with someone that he reasonably knew was a minor, and it was sexual in nature.
‘Until the affidavit is released, we won’t know the specifics.’
Dr del Carmen claims the use of a computer leads to the ‘presumption’ that ‘that these images were likely sent to other computers or acquired by other individuals outside of the state’, bringing it into the realm of federal charges and the FBI.
He believes the FBI will likely be investigating if there is any kind of pedophile ring and who the ringleader is.
His wife of 25 years, Leslie Turner, has previously told the Daily Mail that the accusations against her husband are untrue
Turner had been a teacher at the school for 14 years at the time of his disappearance, which came shortly after he had been placed on ‘administrative leave with pay’, pending an ongoing investigation
‘This is a huge case which affects thousands of people. But the FBI, they’re going to want to know where the source is, and where is this coming from. Is it across the globe? Are we working with Interpol at this point?’
Kohlhepp, who is not involved in the law enforcement operation into Turner, said another way Turner could have been caught is if an IT worker ‘stumbled’ upon child sexual abuse material during a routine update of school computers.
In other cases, often ‘a spouse or a repair person’ could be going through someone’s computer and discover child abuse material and report it to the police.
Police would then get a search warrant to do a forensic analysis of the device and based on what they find, move for probable cause to get further warrants.
On Turner’s case, he speculates: ‘Either someone in the police came across child sexual abuse material on one of his devices, or he was chatting with an undercover officer.’
Virginia State Police have not publicly revealed whether they have conducted search warrants on Turner’s personal or work phones, computer, or tablets.
But our criminology experts strongly believe this would have been done almost immediately to ensure all possible evidence was gathered and protected from deletion.
Dr del Carmen adds: ‘If they are charging him with these various counts, it means they have evidence in their possession.
‘To me, that means they have the electronic equipment that they need and the pictures and videos associated with that in order to be able to file a charge.’
Kohlhepp, who has worked several high-profile manhunts, said drafting the FBI and US Marshals was intended as a ‘force multiplier’ to locate Turner, who he believes has ended his own life.
He said this and the increasingly wintry weather would make any recovery operation highly challenging for law enforcement.
But, if Turner is alive, he said he might try to ‘survive’ by scavenging food from breaking into peoples’ homes and building makeshift shelters; ultimately making it easier for cops to catch him.
