Former Duke employee imprisoned for child porn

DURHAM (WTVD) -- A judge sentenced a former Duke University employee Tuesday for sexual exploitation of a minor.

Frank M. Lombard was sentenced to 27 years and 3 months in prison on federal charges of producing child pornography.

The 43-year-old former associate director of the Health Inequalities Program at Duke's Center for Health Policy, pled guilty on December 17, 2009, to sexual exploitation of a minor.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler also ordered Lombard to serve a lifetime of supervised release upon completion of his prison sentence, during which time he will be required to register as a sex offender.

According to court documents, Lombard admitted to streaming a live pornographic image of himself and his 5-year-old adopted son to another internet user via a webcam in August 2007.

Evidence of the event was found during a search of Lombard's Durham home in June 2009.

Investigators said in June that they learned of Lombard's alleged activities through an informant who was also facing sex charges.

According to an arrest warrant, Lombard made the child sex offer to a member of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police working with the Northern Virginia Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force during an online chat session.

The warrant says Lombard lives in Durham with a gay partner, and that he has two adopted children.

It says he told the investigator "he could not molest the adopted 5-year-old child when his partner was around, however the partner was leaving for a four-day business trip the next day, which would allow him the ability to molest the child just as he did the last time his partner had left town."

The warrant goes on to say that Lombard admitted to drugging the child with Benadryl during the molestation. It also goes into graphic detail about the molestation - including accusations Lombard performed oral sex on the child.

In a later chat session, Lombard suggested the person he was chatting with fly to Raleigh/Durham to have sex with the 5-year-old.

That same day, Lombard was arrested and child pornography materials were found in his home.