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A former Durham Academy assistant coach accused of possessing child sexual abuse material was involved in at least two prior police reports concerning similar material, a newly released search warrant shows.
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Sumner Virkler, 21, was arrested last week on 10 charges of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, The News & Observer previously reported. Virkler worked as an assistant track and field coach this spring at Durham Academy, his alma mater, which has said no students at the private school appear to be connected to the charges.
Durham police began looking into Virkler in May after receiving a tip from the U.S. Department of State, according to a search warrant released this week. An agent told investigators PayPal accounts tied to Virkler had purchased possible child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online.
At least one of the accounts used Virkler’s East Carolina University address, according to the warrant; his LinkedIn indicates he was a student there from August 2023 to November 2025. The accounts apparently made at least two purchases, one in December 2024 and one in February 2025.
When Durham police searched Virkler’s name in their database, they discovered this wasn’t the first time he’d been associated with a report of child sexual abuse material, according to the warrant. Virkler had called Durham police in December 2020, stating another user in an anonymous chatroom had sent him links to child sexual abuse material.
The search warrant doesn’t indicate whether police verified that claim, but almost two years later, Virkler again became involved in a report of child sexual abuse material.
In March 2022, Snapchat reported Virkler’s account had uploaded four child sexual abuse material files, according to the search warrant. Police contacted Virkler’s mother, “who advised Sumner said he received CSAM from someone on Twitter,” the warrant states. An investigator then issued a “verbal warning,” according to the warrant.
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Virkler’s CashApp account was also apparently flagged to authorities in November 2025, when the company noted his account had been associated with other accounts sharing child sexual abuse material in June 2023, the search warrant says. It’s not clear why there was a delay between the alleged association and the company’s report; it’s also not clear whether police were immediately notified.
As Durham police continued investigating the most recent tip, a detective reached out to law enforcement in New Zealand, where the cloud storage website Mega is based, according to the warrant. Through that connection, police discovered at least 10 accounts associated with Virkler’s email addresses, including his ECU address. Eight of those accounts had suspected child abuse material on them.
“Across all eight accounts, over 7500 files of known CSAM were identified,” a detective wrote.
At least one of the victims appeared to be an infant, according to the search warrant.
Virkler remained jailed without bail as of Thursday afternoon. His next court date is tentatively set for next month.
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