Lombard faces long sentence in child sex plea deal

By Neil Offen

DURHAM — A plea agreement has been reached in the case of the former Duke University administrator originally charged with a series of sex crimes involving his adopted 5-year-old son.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office and lawyers for Frank Lombard announced the agreement Tuesday in District Court in Washington, D.C. A plea hearing was set for Dec. 17 when the details of the agreement will be announced.

Lombard, who had been associate director of the university’s Health Inequalities Program and a Duke employee for 10 years, was formally charged in the District of Columbia court Tuesday with sexual exploitation of a minor.

The charge, by filing of an “information” to the court, comes in lieu of a grand jury indictment. It’s a precursor to accepting the plea agreement, said Ben Friedman, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The one-page filing accepted by the court Tuesday states that Lombard forced a minor to “engage in sexually explicit conduct ... for the purpose of transmitting a live visual depiction of such conduct.”

The sentence for sexual exploitation of a minor is generally around 15 years, Friedman said. Lombard would serve the sentence in a federal prison.

The Durham resident originally was charged with sexual offense with a child and of persuading someone to cross state lines for illegal sexual activity. Conviction on both those counts could have brought him a maximum of 20 years in prison.

After the plea hearing Dec. 17, a sentencing hearing will be scheduled for Lombard, who has been held in the District of Columbia jail since his arrest last summer.

Lombard was arrested in Durham after he allegedly solicited adults over the Internet to have sex with his son. The arrest came following an elaborate sting operation that included the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State Bureau of Investigation and an Internet Crime Task Force as well as police in both Durham and Washington.