Carl Lombardo, a Florida youth basketball coach, was arrested on charges of sexual abuse and child endangerment after allegedly abusing a child who was staying at his home for a sleepover. Lombardo is also accused of offering parents $5,000 per child to have them stay at his home.
Lombardo was arrested on Wednesday and charged with nine felonies, including sex trafficking of a child, molestation of a child under 16, production and possession of child pornography.
Coach Turned Predator: Lombardo's Dark Secret
Lombardo, a volunteer basketball coach who used the courts at a Boys and Girls Club, was the subject of a sheriff's investigation launched on August 31. The arrest report from the Marion County Sheriff's Office suggests the investigation began after Lombardo refused to return a 15-year-old boy to his parents.
The victim, who had been staying at Lombardo's home with his siblings, was allegedly coerced by Lombardo into making a video pretending to want to stay with him. Lombardo is accused of sending the video to the victim's mother.
"He states, 'I'm writing this letter... because...' then becomes emotional. He drops his head as he cries, and the suspect can be heard on the other side of the camera can be heard saying 'stop crying, just do it,'" per an arrest warrant obtained by USA TODAY.
Lombardo is suspected of bribing the parents with $5,000 per child, exploiting his perceived influence in the school community to dissuade them from reporting the incident.
When authorities removed the teenager from Lombardo's residence and reunited him with his family, several of his siblings disclosed that Lombardo had engaged in inappropriate physical contact with them and had taken nude photos of them.
Law enforcement officials examined two of Lombardo's mobile devices and discovered numerous images of child pornography depicting a young child believed to have been captured by Lombardo. Additionally, his devices contained images of him in close physical proximity with children and photographs of their feet.
Deputies stated that Lombardo, exploiting his role as a coach to cultivate trust within the family, frequently hosted the children at his residence overnight. Taking advantage of the situation, he then molested two children, took their photos and even exposed himself, as reported by the sheriff's office.
"He developed a pattern of keeping the children at his home for multiple-day stays, during which he molested two of the juvenile victims, exposed himself to the children, and photographed them inappropriately," the sheriff's office said.
Community Reaction And Outrage
Lombardo is incarcerated at the Marion County Jail without bail. Residents who knew Lombardo told WCJB he was "strange" and noted a persistent sense of unease surrounding his behaviour.
"You could feel the vibe off him. My husband from day one said it – he seems like a creep," said neighbour Vanessa Velez. Richard Foster, another neighbour of Lombardo's, reported seeing children at his residence at various times throughout the day.
"We leave at five in the morning for work and come home at five in the afternoon, and they're out there at five in the morning, and they're out there at five in the afternoon when we come home. It's just very odd, very strange," Foster said.
Velez further recounted witnessing children leaving Lombardo's residence in a visibly distressed state. "Kids come out crying, and then my kids would ask them, 'Are you guys OK? Everything OK?' Kids [respond] 'Yeah, yeah,' and they just kept on walking. But it was concerning because he is not married, and he does not have children of his own," Velez said.
These disturbing incidents are not isolated. Just last month, Jessica Renteria, a Florida woman, was apprehended for leaving her three-year-old son unsupervised in an apartment while she underwent cosmetic surgery. Additionally, a horrifying event occurred in Brisbane in August when a nine-month-old infant was brutally assaulted with boiling coffee in a public park.
