Lakeland, Florida – Yesterday afternoon United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced the indictment and arrest of Stephen Andrew Leedy (59, St. Petersburg) 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. According to the indictment and court documents, Leedy, a palliative care doctor in the Tampa Bay area, including limited treatment privileges at Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center in Polk County, utilized the username “maximumuncle#9112” to sexually exploit and victimize approximately ten minors online. 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, 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.
In a statement to the Daily Ridge, Timothy J. Regan, MD, President of Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center and Chief Medical Officer of Lakeland Regional Health, addressed Dr. Leedy’s limited association with the hospital and outlined the hospital’s swift actions in response to this tragic news:
“We are deeply troubled to learn of the recent arrest of Dr. Stephen Leedy. Dr. Leedy is not, and never has been, employed by Lakeland Regional Health and there is no record of Dr. Leedy ever treating patients at our hospital. Through his affiliation with an outside hospice organization, he had limited consulting staff privileges for adult-only hospice and palliative care and was not on the active medical staff. These privileges at our hospital were relinquished immediately upon notification of his arrest.”
The US Attorney would go on to say:
“An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the Pasco Sheriff’s Office and the FBI – Tampa Office, with assistance from St. Petersburg Police Department, FBI – Atlanta Office, and the Holly Springs Police Department. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Abigail K. King and Ilyssa M. Spergel.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.”
This is a developing story and if any further information comes to light we will update this article.
