Basketball coach offered parents $5,000 to buy their kids, MPs say

OCALA, Fla. (WCJB/Gray News) – A Florida youth basketball coach has been arrested after cops say he sexually abused a child who stayed at his house for a sleepover and refused to give him up.

Carl Lombardo, 58, is also accused of offering the parents $5,000 for each of their children.

Lombardo was arrested Wednesday on charges of child sex trafficking, sexual assault of a child under 16, production of child pornography and possession of child pornography. In total, he was charged with nine felonies.

Lombardo is a volunteer basketball coach who used the courts of a Boys and Girls Club but was not employed by the organization.

According to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office arrest report, deputies began the investigation on Aug. 31 when Lombardo refused to release a 15-year-old boy to his parents.

The victim had been sleeping with her siblings at Lombardo’s home on Spring Lake Place in Ocala.

Police said Lombardo sent a video of the victim pretending to write a note to her mother telling her she wanted to stay with Lombardo. Police said Lombardo coerced the child into making the video.

Lombardo is accused of offering the parents $5,000 for each of their children. He told them he didn’t care if they went to the police because he works with schools and has an unblemished reputation.

When officers rescued the teen from Lombardo’s home and returned him to his parents, several of his siblings reported that Lombardo had touched them inappropriately and taken nude photos of them.

Investigators searched two of Lombardo’s cell phones and found several pornographic images of a young child, apparently taken by Lombardo. He also had images of himself cuddling children and pictures of their feet.

According to police, Lombardo used his position as a coach to gain the family’s trust and kept the children at his home several times overnight. He then assaulted two children, exposed himself and photographed them, according to the sheriff’s office.

Lombardo was booked into the Marion County Jail without bail.

Lombardo’s neighbors told WCJB that he was “strange” and that something always seemed off.

“You could feel the vibe he was giving off. My husband said it from day one: he seems like a pervert,” said neighbor Vanessa Velez.

Another neighbor, Richard Foster, said he saw children at Lombardo’s house at all hours of the day.

“We leave work at five in the morning and come home at five in the afternoon, and they’re there at five in the morning and they’re there at five in the afternoon when we come home. It’s very strange, very weird,” Foster said.

Velez also mentioned seeing children leaving Lombardo’s house in tears.

“The children come out crying, and my children ask them, ‘Is everything okay? Is everything okay?’ The children say, ‘Yes, yes,’ and they keep walking. But it’s worrying because he’s not married and he doesn’t have children,” Velez said.

Due to the nature of the crimes, investigators believe Lombardo may have molested other children. Anyone with information is asked to contact Investigator Osthed at (352) 351-4710.