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The Virginia school district where football coach Travis Turner vanished as he was being charged with child sex crimes knew about his alleged behavior for “so many years” — but did nothing to stop it, infuriated parents claimed at the district school board meeting this week.
Parents accused the Wise County Board of Education of having a “lack of transparency” over the ongoing Turner case Tuesday, claiming its leaders had deliberately ignored the situation and others like it.
“I just want to make sure that no one thinks that we’re going to sweep this under the rug like it has been for so many years,” parent Stephen Murray told WJHL after the meeting, which was the third since Turner disappeared in November.
“I just want to keep reminding the citizens of this county that there’s been a lot of abuse and we just need to keep shining a spotlight on it until something changes,” he said.
Turner, a 46-year-old father of three, disappeared just before Thanksgiving as police were driving to his home near Big Stone Gap to question him over allegations of child porn and solicitation of a minor.
The longtime coach was a pillar of the football-loving small-town community, but he was charged with the alarming child sex crimes days later and hasn’t been seen since.
And he was just the latest teacher at Wise County’s tiny school district — which serves just 5,500 students — to be charged with child sex crimes, with three others being accused and two of them convicted since 2020.
They included a middle and high school band teacher Dalton Matthew Bates, who was convicted after bragging about sending snaps of his students to fellow pedos in 2020, and another coach at Turner’s Union High, Timothy Lee Meador, convicted of child solicitation and indecent liberties.
A teacher was even accused as recently as August — Tyler Jay Tibbs, a middle school teacher charged with having sex with a child between the age of 13 and 15.
And parents are refusing to let the matter go — with Murray attending each Board of Education meeting since Turner vanished and letting its members have it.
“This is the third meeting I’ve been to in a row, and I just want to keep applying pressure,” said Murray, who was among three others who raised similar concerns at Tuesday’s meeting.
“I think it’s vital now more than ever that they actually understand that a community is hurting and a community does want change,” Murray said. “I do hope they’re listening. I think this is just the beginning, and the school board should, you know, get used to seeing these faces.”
The search for Turner remains ongoing nearly three months later, with no sign of him since.
He was last seen walking into the thick Appalachian woods behind his house on the day he went missing — armed with a gun.
Turner’s family has insisted he is innocent of the charges.
But a man claiming to be the grandfather of a girl allegedly abused by Turner spoke at the last board meeting and said he admired her bravery for coming forward with her allegations.
Wise County’s Board of Education did not respond to a request for comment.
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