A youth basketball coach refused to let a teenager sleep over at his home, forced him to say he wanted to stay and offered his parents $5,000 to buy him out, police in Florida said.
Carl Lombardo, a 58-year-old former coach at the Boys and Girls Club, is accused of a string of crimes against children, including sex offenses, human trafficking and interference with child custody, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office announced Sept. 19.
Information about his lawyer could not be found in court files as of September 20.
The investigation began on Aug. 31, when the 15-year-old’s parents reported that Lombardo refused to return their son after he slept over at his home in Ocala with the teen’s other siblings.
He sent the family a video in which the teen allegedly wrote a letter saying he wanted to stay with Lombardo, officers said.
But when officers searched Lombardo’s phone, they found additional videos showing Lombardo forcing him and telling him, “Stop crying, just do it,” as the teen was overcome with emotion, detectives said.
Lombardo let the teen’s siblings leave, but he told the children that their brother was now his and that he would shoot their mother if she tried to get her son back, the children told officers, the affidavit said.
The child’s father confronted Lombardo via text message about not taking his child and accused him of abusing the children, according to text messages in the affidavit.
“Lombardo stated that he was not concerned because he works with the schools and his reputation is spotless,” the representatives said.
The parents called police and the teen was taken home, leading to an investigation that revealed Lombardo had a “pattern” of having the five siblings stay at his home for multiple days at a time, having inappropriate contact with the children and abusing them, officers said.
When officers questioned the children and Lombardo, they learned he had bought them gifts, had photos of himself “cuddling” with the children and had also taken pornographic photos of the children, investigators said.
Lombardo told investigators he had offered to purchase the children from their parents on several occasions, offering $5,000, the affidavit said.
Deputies said Lombardo used his “position of authority and trust” as a coach to “gain access and control over the child victims and engage in a pattern of slowly normalizing the behavior he exhibited over a two-year period.”
According to the sheriff’s office, he was charged with trafficking of a child for commercial sexual activity, interference with the custody of a child, indecent or lascivious sexual assault of a victim under the age of 12, indecent or lascivious sexual assault of a victim between the ages of 12 and 16, indecent and lascivious display, and two counts of producing child pornography and producing child pornography.
Detectives believe Lombardo may have abused additional children and are asking anyone with information to come forward by calling Detective Henrik Osthed at 352-351-4710.
Ocala is located approximately 80 miles northwest of Orlando.
If you have experienced sexual assault and need someone to talk to, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline for support at 1-800-656-4673 or visit the hotline’s online chat room.
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