YouTube singer-songwriter Michael Lombardo has been arrested by the FBI after allegedly convincing four of his underage female fans to send him illicit photos and videos of themselves.
Lombardo now faces a four-count felony complaint and could face anywhere between 15 and 30 years in prison for two of the charges and a minimum of 5 years (maximum of 20) in custody for the other two. Lombardo was held for five days in jail but has been released for the time being. He is currently prohibited from using the Internet, contacting anyone under the age of 18, and is forced to abide by a strict evening curfew.
The 23-year-old musician joined YouTube in 2008 and has garnered more than 18,000 subscribers and 1.4 million video views. According to thesmokinggun.com, Lombardo used his YouTube fame to manipulate multiple female minors into performing sexual acts over Skype. A supporting affidavit, filed by Alix Skelton, a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), describes the federal complaints of two of the alleged victims who were 14 and 16-years-old at the time of their respective encounters with Lombardo. According to the affidavit, after the 14-year-old fan began sending nude pictures to Lombardo over Skype, he asked if she “liked taking orders” and ordered her to remove her clothes and perform illicit sexual acts while Lombardo watched. The 51-second video was found on Lombardo’s laptop after a search warrant allowed agents to search his home. The second alleged victim, met Lombardo while he worked at her school when she was 15 or 16-years-old. She began sending sexually explicit photos to Lombardo wearing less and less clothing. Lombardo directed her to take more clothing off each time and eventually the teen sent him photos of her completely nude, which were eventually found on Lombardo’s cell phone.
In addition to these two accounts, two other females are also named on Skelton’s Affidavit. The two females were both 17, and reportedly exchanged nude photos and videos with Lombardo after meeting him online as fans.
