Basketball coach offered parents $5,000 to buy their children, deputies say

OCALA, Fla. (WCJB/Gray News) – A youth basketball coach in Florida was arrested after deputies say he sexually abused and refused to give up a child who stayed at his home for a sleepover.

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

Lombardo was arrested Wednesday on charges of sex trafficking of a child, molestation of a child under the age of 16, production of child porn and possession of child porn. In total, he was charged with nine felonies.

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

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

The victim had slept over with his siblings at Lombardo’s home on Spring Lake Place in Ocala.

Deputies said Lombardo sent a video of the victim pretending to write a note to his mother about wanting to stay with Lombardo. Deputies 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 a spotless reputation.

When deputies rescued the teenager from Lombardo’s home and returned him to his parents, several of his siblings reported Lombardo touched them inappropriately and took nude photos of them.

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

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

Lombardo was booked into the Marion County Jail on no bond.

Neighbors of Lombardo told WCJB he was “strange,” and something always seemed off.

“You could feel the vibe off him. My husband from day one said it – he seems like a creep,” said neighbor Vanessa Velez.

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

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

Velez also mentioned seeing children leave Lombardo’s home in tears.

“Kids come out crying, and then my kids would ask them, ‘Are you guys OK? Everything OK?’ Kids [respond] ‘Yeah, yeah,’ and they just kept on walking. But it was concerning because he is not married and he does not have children of his own,” Velez said.

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

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