Florida doctor accused of producing child porn, allegedly linked to girl's death
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A Florida doctor is facing life in a federal prison after authorities alleged he produced child pornography and victimized numerous girls, one of whom took her own life.
On Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida, announced the arrest of 59-year-old Stephen Andrew Leedy of St. Petersburg.
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He is charged with three counts of production of child sexual abuse material and two counts of coercing or enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity.
Leedy, a palliative-care physician, was pulled over and arrested on Dec. 19 by police in Georgia.
“I’m sorry. What’s going on?” Leedy asks the cops, according to body-worn camera video obtained by NBC affiliate WFLA.
“Just put your hands behind your back,” an officer says in response.
Leedy says he doesn’t know anything about the charges and tells the cops it is a case of “mistaken identity.
“I’m a physician,” he says in the video.
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The report said two members of his family were inside the vehicle at the time of his arrest.
According to the indictment and court documents, Leedy allegedly used the online handle “maximumuncle#9112” to sexually exploit and victimize about 10 minors.
“In online conversations and video chats, Leedy instructed the minors to produce sexually explicit images of themselves and directed them to cut, choke, and hang themselves,” the attorney’s office said in a news release.
Court documents said that in November 2022, one victim was found dead after she hanged herself in front of her phone “in a manner consistent with instructions Leedy had previously provided her.”
According to the Florida Department of Health, Leedy has been practising medicine in the state since January 1991. He was employed at the Gulfside Healthcare Services in Pasco County.
“It is with profound shock and dismay that we learned of the indictment of Dr. Stephen Leedy … The allegations are incredibly disturbing and contrary to the values of Gulfside,” Gulfside Healthcare Services spokesperson Heather Rodriguez said in a statement.
A former employee, who described Leedy as “charismatic,” said she saw no warning signs.
“Not one single thing, always respectful to all of us. Fair boss,” said social worker Deborah Kuhlman, who worked at Gulfside Healthcare Services.
Kuhlman said she was shocked by the allegations.
“I texted one of my friends and I said, ‘I feel like I’m questioning everything I thought I knew to be true,’ and especially with a doctor, somebody that you trust that you would think had the high moral ethic compass,” said Kuhlman.
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