Socialist Duke employee arrested on child sex charge

Frank M. Lombard, 42, of 24 Indigo Creek Trail in Durham.

DURHAM, N.C. — Agents from the FBI, SBI and Durham police officers 
arrested a Duke University employee Wednesday, alleging that he 
solicited an adult to have sex with his adopted 5-year-old child.  

Lombard is associate director of the Center for Health Policy at 
Duke. Duke Vice President for Public Affairs Michael Schoenfeld said 
Lombard was placed on unpaid leave at the time of his arrest and 
that the university was cooperating with the investigation.According 
to the affidavit for his arrest, an undercover officer from the 
Washington police identified Lombard through an Internet sting. The 
affidavit contains graphic descriptions of sexual acts and outlines 
the case against Lombard.The affidavit says the FBI was tipped off 
to his activities by an unnamed informant who also faces charges in 
a child sex case. The affidavit describes conversations in which the 
informant told the FBI he had online video chat sessions using a 
software program called ICUii with a user who identified himself as 
“cooper2” or “cooperse.” A subpoena of account information from 
ICUii connected Lombard to the “cooper2” user name, the affidavit 
says.

 The affidavit says the informant described “cooper2” as a white man 
in his mid-40s, tall and of medium build, clean-shaven with brown 
hair and wearing glasses. The informant told agents that he saw 
“cooper2” perform sex acts on a young  child via these online chats 
on multiple occasions. The affidavit said the informant’s 
description of the man he met online corresponded with the 
description of Frank Mccorkle Lombard.
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, chatted online with a 
person using the name “F.L.” Palchak said “F.L.” described specific 
sex acts he had performed on a 5-year-old child and said that he 
lived in Durham.
 
A search warrant filed for Lombard’s house further outlines the case 
against him, and includes a transcript of the chat between Palchak 
and “F.L.” In the chat transcript, “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.”

In a subsequent online chat, the warrant says, “F.L.” invited 
Palchak, who he did not realize was a police detective, to fly to 
Durham to have sexual contact with the child. He even suggested a 
hotel.

Lombard faces a federal charge of attempting to induce someone to 
cross state lines to engage in a sexual offense. He was being held 
without bond at the Durham County jail Friday. A conviction would 
carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Lombard has retained an attorney. He had an initial appearance in 
federal court in Durham Friday. He will be taken to Washington, D.C. 
to faces the charges. Multiple attempts to contact Lombard’s 
attorney Friday afternoon were unsuccessful.

When officers arrived at Lombard’s home Wednesday, two children were 
present, the FBI said. Both were taken into protective custody by 
the North Carolina Department of Social Services.