Florida doctor arrested for sexually exploiting minors, instructing self-harm

A Florida doctor has been charged with producing child sexual abuse materials and enticing minors to engage in sexual activity, according to the District Attorney’s Office. The doctor also instructed the minors to injure and hang themselves, with at least one victim found deceased after following his instructions.

Stephen Andrew Leedy, a 59-year-old palliative care doctor from the Tampa Bay area, was arrested after an investigation by the Pasco Sheriff’s Office and the FBI Tampa Office that revealed at least 10 minors who were sexually exploited by the suspect.

Leedy utilized the username “maximumuncle#9112” to sexually exploit and victimize the minors online, said the statement released on Monday by the Middle District of Florida Attorney’s Office. 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.

In November 2021, a minor, identified as Minor Victim 1, was discovered deceased, having hanged herself in front of her phone in a manner consistent with instructions Leedy had previously provided her, according to the statement.

Leedy was arrested and charged on three counts of production of child sexual abuse material and two counts of coercing or enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity. If convicted on all counts, Leedy faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison.