Football Coach Offered To Pay Teen For Naked Photos, Cops Say

TAMPA, FL — A 27-year-old Tampa Bay Youth Football League coach and Tampa Parks and Recreation Department employee faces multiple criminal charges after police say he tried to buy naked pictures of a teenage boy.

According to the Tampa Police Department, Davarius Durham sent messages to a 15-year-old victim between Dec. 12, 2015, and Feb. 29, 2016, via the KIK messaging app. In those messages, Durham asked the boy “to send a picture of his genitals in exchange for $70,” an email from the police department said.

The boy, police noted, did not send Durham photos.

“The suspect was the victim's football coach through the Tampa Bay Youth Football League,” the email noted. “Through the investigation, detectives identified two additional victims. Those crimes occurred in the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office jurisdiction.”

The investigation into Durham’s alleged activity began when a parks and recreation department employee contacted his supervisor about suspicious activity, police said. The victims did not meet Durham through the parks department, the agency noted. All three were coached by Durham in football, police said.

It is currently unclear if there may be other victims. Anyone with information is asked to contact police.

A delay in Durham’s arrest occurred, police noted, because he is said to have fled Tampa on April 6. The U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force caught up with him in Miami Gardens at a relative’s home and brought him into custody on April 8. He was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail April 14.

Police say Durham has been charged with three counts of lewd and lascivious behavior, one count of using a computer device to solicit and one count of unlawful use of a communications device.

Booking photo courtesy of the Tampa Police Department

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