ANN ARBOR, Mich. – A former youth soccer coach has been taken into federal custody after reportedly soliciting a 14-year-old boy.
Jacob Kromberg, a 26-year-old from Howell, has been the Boys Junior Varsity soccer coach at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School for three years. He left Pioneer at the end of the 2023-24 school year to take a job at the University of Michigan, working in women’s soccer.
According to authorities, Kromberg sexually solicited at least one high school student and photographed underage athletes at sporting events. He was arrested by the FBI Wednesday, July 24.
An official with the University of Michigan said they are aware of the investigation and that Kromberg has been terminated. Ann Arbor Public Schools said he’s been banned from all school properties and events.
Federal investigators said the ages of the boys he messaged were the same age as those he coached at Pioneer High School.
The investigation began after a 14-year-old student-athlete from a different school reported to his coach in February that he was being solicited online for sexual activities, and that the suspect traveled to school sporting events and taken pictures of him partially undressed. The suspect reportedly offered the boy money for oral sex.
The 14-year-old had taken photos and screenshots of his conversation with the suspect, which included a photo that included part of the suspect’s face. Several days later, the coach recognized the suspect from the photo at a school sporting event and followed him to the parking lot, where he saw him leave in a white Ford Fusion.
Authorities tracked the license plate on the Ford to a home in Howell.
Police reviewed the teen boy’s Snapchat messages with the suspect, who was using the username max.smi34, and verified the boy’s claim that the man had offered money in exchange for oral sex. Authorities said Snapchat provided information relating to the max.smi34 account, including messages and images stored within the account. The account records reportedly included multiple images of adolescent and teen boys, ages 12-17, with their shirts off at social events who appeared to be unaware someone was taking their picture. There was also a collection of nude selfie photos of young boys touching themselves.
Police said the records from Snapchat revealed that the account had changed its username at some point from maxwil54 -- a username that was included in a March 2024 complaint submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding a different child being sexually solicited on Snapchat.
The account also reportedly had multiple conversations in which the suspect appeared to solicit minors into meeting for sexual encounters, including a graphical and sexual conversation after a boy told max.smi34 he was only 16 years old. The conversation also resulted in the suspect reportedly asking to meet the minor and exchange money.
The records from Snapchat provided to law enforcement reportedly included the IP addresses used by the suspect to connect to the internet, which investigators used to track down the phone the suspect was using. The phone was reportedly associated with Jacob Kromberg and was registered to the same address police tracked the Ford Fusion to in Howell.
A federal search warrant was executed on the Howell residence Wednesday, July 24. Authorities said several items were seized -- including a hard drive that had “multiple images depicting child pornography” in a folder labeled “Snapchat.”
Authorities are pushing for Kromberg to be charged with coercion and enticement of a minor, receiving child pornography and possessing child pornography.
