Feds: Child porn complaint filed against former University of Michigan sports scientist

A former University of Michigan sports scientist appeared in federal court Thursday, accused of child pornography offenses.

A criminal complaint Thursday in U.S. District Court accuses Jacob Anthony Kromberg of coercion and enticement of a minor, receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography in February 2024 in Shiawassee County.

Kromberg made an initial appearance in federal court, where he was ordered detained during a detention hearing before Magistrate Judge Patricia Morris, whose courtroom is in Bay City.

The defense attorney listed for Kromberg in court records, Elias Escobedo Jr., could not be immediately reached for comment. U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison had no comment, according to Gina Balaya, spokesperson for Ison's Office.

Online searches listed Kromberg in staff directories at the University of Michigan as a sports scientist, with one naming him the director of operations/sports scientist for Michigan women's soccer, starting in the fall 2022 season. The page for one of the links no longer exists. According to indeed.com, a sports scientist specializes in exercise and sports, focusing on the body's response to sport or exercise with an interest in identifying, preventing and treating sports-related injuries.

"We are aware of an ongoing criminal investigation and have terminated Jacob Kromberg's volunteer appointment, effective immediately. We are unable to comment further on this ongoing case," according to a statement from the university to the Free Press.

According to the criminal complaint filed in federal court, a 14-year-old student athlete reported to his coach in February that he was being solicited online for sexual activities via Snapchat.

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He said the suspect traveled to his school sporting events and took pictures of the victim partially undressed, later sending the pictures to him via Snapchat and asking to engage in oral sex with him for money. The victim reported the suspect used multiple Snapchat display names to conduct this solicitation, per the 11-page complaint.

The victim took pictures and screenshot images of the conversation as well as a screenshot of a partial facial image the suspect sent him during a Snapchat conversation. The image was circulated to coaches for awareness and several days later at a school sporting event, a coach had a face-to-face encounter with a person he recognized as the suspect based on the image the victim provided, the complaint states.

The court document states the coach followed the person to the parking lot, saw him enter a white Ford Fusion sedan and took a picture of the car and its license plate using a cellphone, which was later provided to law enforcement. The car belonged to a 56-year-old man in Howell and Kromberg, 26, was registered as living at the same address, per his state driver's license record, according to the federal complaint.

Law enforcement reviewed the victim's cellphone and reported Snapchat messaging and during a records review learned of two different user names on the account. One of the user names was the subject of a March cyber-tip complaint submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for a different online child enticement complaint using Snapchat, with that victim in Missouri, according to the criminal complaint.

Investigators saw numerous images of adolescent and teenage male student athletes, about 12-17 years old, with their shirts off at various sporting events who appeared to be unaware someone was taking their picture. They also saw numerous conversations in which the user appeared to solicit and entice other Snapchat users, seemingly minors, into meeting for sexual encounters with crude messages in some cases, per the complaint.

It also states investigators saw what appeared to be a collection of images and selfies from various adolescent and teenage males who sent images of themselves to the suspect over Snapchat, including nude images of themselves, with one of the boys telling the user he is 16 years old. A thread of graphic conversation, including the user discussing money and asking to meet the minor for sex, ensued, according to the complaint.

Investigators conducted basic internet searches for Kromberg and found a webpage from high school in Washtenaw County in which he was listed as the boys freshmen soccer coach for the fall 2021-22 season, per the complaint.

Neither that school nor the University of Michigan are named in the criminal complaint.

On Wednesday, the FBI executed a search warrant that included the authorization of a search of Kromberg's vehicle and residence. They seized a hard drive in Kromberg's bedroom, which investigators said had multiple images depicting child pornography that appeared to be images saved from Snapchat, with one file depicting a nude male 13-15 years old, according to the complaint.

Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Feds: Child porn complaint filed against former U-M sports scientist