Deputies: Man sexually assaulted children at sleepovers in his Florida home, offered to buy them - WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports

MARION COUNTY, Fla. (WESH) — A Marion County man was arrested Wednesday and faces multiple charges after refusing to return a teenage boy to his parents after a sleepover, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies said they received reports that Carl Philip Lombardo, 58, was refusing to release a 15-year-old boy to his parents after a sleepover at his home in Ocala.

Officers were told Lombardo had brought the teen’s siblings home earlier in the day but refused to bring the 15-year-old back. The sheriff’s office said the children would spend the night at Lombardo’s home, sometimes staying for days at a time.

The 15-year-old was eventually returned to his parents, but deputies said several of the children reported being inappropriately touched by Lombardo.

“In short, Mr. Lombardo is an absolute predator,” said Lt. Paul Bloom of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s office says Lombardo took nude photos of some of the children and exposed himself to them.

“He even offered the mother, at one point, $5,000 to buy the children,” Bloom said.

The sheriff’s office is concerned that these children are not the only ones they should worry about.

“We feel there are more than just these victims that we found in this case,” Bloom said.

That’s partly because the children told the sheriff’s office they met Lombardo when he was their volunteer basketball coach.

His neighbor said he had seen children coming and going in recent months.

“He started having little kids come over to his house because, I guess, he had befriended him at the ballpark across the street,” Richard Foster said.

It was this friendship that he found strange.

“I had a strange feeling that something was going on,” Foster said.

In Lombardo’s phone, deputies found photos depicting sexual abuse of a young child, numerous images of him cuddling the children and photos of their feet.

Deputies said he had a history of keeping children at his home for stays of several days and doing inappropriate things to them.

He also allegedly forced the child victims to behave in a coercive manner by offering them gifts, isolating them and threatening them, according to the deputies.

The MPs said Lombardo faces:

Trafficking of children for commercial sexual activity Interference with child custody Lewd or lascivious molestation of a victim under 12 years of age Lewd or lascivious molestation of a victim between 12 and 16 years of age Lewd and lascivious exhibition Two counts each of making child pornography and possessing child pornography

According to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Lombardo was arrested and transported to the Marion County Jail. He remains without bail.