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Neighbors close in after sex charges

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BY STANLEY B. CHAMBERS JR.

Sitting in a Durham County jail cell, Frank M. Lombard, the Duke University researcher accused of offering his adopted 5-year-old son for sex, awaits a trip to Washington, D.C., this week to face federal criminal charges.

After waiving an extradition hearing Friday morning, he was locked in the Durham jail Saturday without bail.

Federal authorities say Lombard, 42, of 24 Indigo Creek Trail, performed sexual acts on his son and invited an undercover investigator online to fly to North Carolina and do the same.

Lombard owns the home with another man, according to Durham County property records. The pair bought the home, which sits at the end of a narrow path lined with trees and multicolored homes, in May 2007, the records show. The co-owner has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

A bag of baseball equipment, a pair of tennis rackets, a skateboard and a child's bike lay on the home's front porch Saturday. No one answered the door as a dog barked inside.

Lombard, associate director of Duke's Center for Health Policy, was arrested Wednesday evening at his home. Investigators seized two webcams, five computers and a sex toy, among other items, after searching his home.

The 5-year-old and another child in the home were placed in protective custody.

Lombard has not faced a criminal charge but has speeding infractions and other driving offenses.

Lombard, a licensed clinical social worker with a master's degree in social work, is a health-disparities researcher who studies HIV/AIDS in the rural South.

Neighbors of Lombard had nothing to say about him Saturday to a reporter who visited Eno Commons, a co-housing community in north Durham.

Residents ordered the reporter to leave the neighborhood, which emphasizes communal life.

A roadblock with a "no trespassing" sign and a Subaru greeted visitors Saturday to Indigo Creek Trail, a private street in the 22-home neighborhood.

Co-housing communities allow residents have a say in the area's design, and they manage and maintain the community together. Decisions are made through consensus, and residents share common space.

"We care deeply about our children and want them to grow up in a friendly and stimulating environment," a Web site about the neighborhood says.

2009 Jun 28