Former health policy prof faces 30 years for child sex charge

Frank Lombard pleaded guilty today in federal court to a child sex charge, WRAL reports. The former associate director of the Health Inequalities Program at Duke's Global Health Institute could face up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced in March.

Lombard was arrested in June after an undercover sting operation and was then fired by Duke.

According to WRAL:

[A]n undercover member of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department described an online chat in which someone named "F.L." invited him to Durham to have sexual contact with his adopted 5-year-old son.

The officer made contact with "F.L" after an informant told FBI agents that he saw a man called “cooper2” perform sex acts on a young African-American child via online chats on multiple occasions. The informant's description of "cooper2" corresponded with the description of Lombard.