Stephen Leedy, 59, of St. Petersburg, who labored in Tampa as a palliative care physician, was arrested on December 20 and has been charged with three counts of manufacturing of kid sexual abuse materials and two counts of coercing or engaging a minor to have interaction in sexual exercise, in keeping with a press launch from the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace, Center District of Florida.

If convicted on all 5 counts, Leedy faces a most penalty of life in a federal jail.

Prosecutors imagine that Leedy operated on-line underneath the username “maximumuncle#9112,” the place they are saying he sexually exploited roughly 10 minors on-line, together with conversations of a sexual nature and video chats.

In line with the press launch, “Leedy instructed the minors to supply sexually specific pictures of themselves and directed them to chop, choke, and grasp themselves.”

These alleged behaviors, per the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace, led to the last word tragedy within the case of 1 sufferer, a 13-year-old lady discovered deceased in her lavatory in November 2021.

Of their movement to detain Leedy, prosecutors claimed the sufferer was discovered “hanging from the bathe head” along with her cellphone “propped up on the tub straight in entrance of her” on November 16, per the Miami Herald.

The usAttorney’s Workplace press launch famous she had “hanged herself in entrance of her cellphone in a way in keeping with directions Leedy had beforehand supplied her.”

These purported directions, per the Herald, included that she “choke herself utilizing a canine leash,” which is what was round her neck when she was discovered. She was additionally reportedly inspired to have interaction in “each day hangings.”

Moreover, investigators discovered sexual conversations with username “maximumuncle#9112” on the sufferer’s cellphone, per the Herald. The suspect additionally allegedly directed this sufferer, per prosecutors, in addition to 9 others, “to supply little one pornography whereas on video calls with him to fulfill his personal sexual deviant curiosity in kids.”

Of their movement, prosecutors mentioned that they’ve “extraordinarily robust” proof towards the physician, regardless that “maximumuncle#9112” by no means revealed his id to his alleged victims, hiding behind a black display and “anonymity” whereas speaking with them on-line.

“Regulation enforcement confirmed Leedy’s possession over the account used to encourage minors to have interaction in sadistic and sexual habits,” the detention movement acknowledged.

“The conversations frequently revolved round his management over the minor sufferer, commenting on how ‘obedient’ they’re and asking no less than one minor sufferer to check with him as ‘my Lord,’” prosecutors acknowledged.

“The whole lot that Leedy instructed these minor victims to do was both bodily or mentally detrimental,” wrote prosecutors of their court docket submitting, per the Herald. “He had completely no (regard) for his or her security and took benefit of kids greater than half his age to gratify himself.”

In an announcement dated January 7 to McClatchy Information, as reported by the Herald, Leedy’s attorneys Bjorn Brunvand and Lucas Fleming mentioned their shopper “adamantly denies the costs which have been filed towards him in federal court docket.”

The duo added, “It’s notably necessary in moments like this when somebody is being accused of very troubling allegations, that we afford him the presumption of innocence.” They famous they “might be getting into a not responsible plea on the earliest alternative and sit up for vigorously defending Dr. Leedy in court docket.”

The Herald notes that Leedy’s medical license stays lively within the State of Florida and no disciplinary data or public complaints are listed as of January 7.

The suspect’s spouse, Lynda Leedy, works because the chief administrative officer of the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County.

In an announcement launched after the allegations, the board’s CEO Beth Houghton informed ABC affiliate WFTS, “Ms. Leedy is a valued member of JWB’s Govt Management Staff, the place she holds herself and others to the very best requirements of moral {and professional} habits and possesses impeccable integrity.”

“Whereas this information leaves us surprised and saddened for Ms. Leedy, her household, and any potential victims on this case,” she continued, “I’ve the utmost confidence in her means to proceed to hold out JWB’s mission of strengthening the lives of our county’s kids and households.”

As of January 7, Leedy was being held in a federal jail in Atlanta after having been picked up by police in Georgia. He’s awaiting extradition to Florida, per court docket data.