Cops: Duke Official Offered Adopted Son For Sex

A Duke University official has been arrested and charged with offering a 5-year-old boy for sex.

Frank Mccorkle Lombard, the school's associate director of the Center for Health Policy, was arrested Wednesday, June 24 after an Internet sting, according to the FBI's Washington field office and the city's police department.

A confidential informant claimed to have seen Lombard molest a young African-American child via online chats on multiple occasions, reports CBS affiliate WRAL-TV in Raleigh.

According to an affidavit by District of Columbia Police Detective Timothy Palchak, the unidentified informant facing charges in a separate child sex case led authorities to Lombard.

Authorities said that Lombard tried to persuade a person — who he did not know was a police officer — to travel to North Carolina to have sex with a child.

The detective's affidavit charges Lombard said in an online chat that he had sexually molested the boy. The court papers say Lombard also invited the undercover detective to North Carolina to have sex with the young boy and even suggested which hotel he should use.

Authorities told WRAL that Lombard told the undercover officer that he has seen and may still have videos depicting children under 5 years old engaging in sexual activity, but that he cleans his digital collection every so often for fear of detection. Those files may still be traceable, a digital specialist told WRAL.

According to a second WRAL report, the FBI used a software program called ICUii during the online chat with a user who called himself "cooper2" or "cooperse." A subpoena of account information from ICUii connected Lombard to the "cooper2" user name, according to the affidavit.

ICUii also shared with the FBI a complaint filed in January 2007 against Frank Lombard from another user. That user alleged Lombard said he "was into incest" and had adopted two African-American children, the affidavit says.

On Monday, according to the affidavit, Det. Timothy Palchak of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department talked online with a person using the name "F.L," reports WRAL. Palchak said "F.L." described specific sex acts he had performed on a 5-year-old child and said that he lived in Durham.

In the chat transcript, WRAL reports, "F.L." is asked how he got access to a child so young. "Adopted," he replied, and said that the process was "not so hard ... esp (sic) for a black boy."

In the chat, "F.L." told Palchak that abusing the child was "easier when he was too young to know what was happening and when he couldn't talk ...He had a little too much Benadryl. Was knocked out."

Lombard was charged in federal court in Washington with attempting to induce someone to cross state lines to engage in sex with a child. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

He appeared in federal court in Durham, N.C., on Friday before Magistrate Judge Wallace Dixon. At the hearing, Lombard agreed to be transferred to Washington for a later court hearing. His lawyer did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs at Duke, said Lombard has been employed with Duke University since 1999. He is now on unpaid administrative leave.

"Duke is cooperating with the investigation," Schoenfeld said. He said the university was notified of the incident after Lombard was arrested.

Authorities executed a search warrant Wednesday evening at Lombard's home, according to court documents. The papers show investigators seized two webcams, five computers and a sex toy, among other items.