The DOJ reported that a doctor coerced children into hanging themselves.

Left: Dr. Stephen Leedy being interviewed (Brandon Rimes/YouTube). Right: Dr. Stephen Leedy (Florida Hospice & Palliative Care Association).

A physician in Florida is charged with multiple offenses for sexually abusing children he met through social media. The Justice Department reports that he directed them to harm themselves while he watched via video chat.

Stephen Leedy, aged 59, from St. Petersburg, is accused of coaching one of his underage victims to take her own life. The victim, a 13-year-old girl, was found dead with a dog leash around her neck, hanging from a shower head. The charges against Leedy, detailed in an indictment issued on Dec. 26, include three counts of producing child sexual abuse material and two counts of persuading a minor to engage in sexual activities. If convicted, he could face life imprisonment.

DOJ officials revealed that Leedy, a palliative care doctor in the Tampa Bay region, used the username ‘maximumuncle#9112’ to exploit and harm around ten minors online. Through online interactions and video calls, Leedy instructed the minors to create sexual images of themselves and instructed them to harm themselves by cutting, choking, and hanging. In a tragic incident in November 2021, one of the minor victims was found dead after hanging herself in front of her phone following Leedy’s instructions.

In a Dec. 17 pretrial motion for detention viewed by Law&Crime, prosecutors outlined the disturbing allegations against Leedy, saying he was “an extreme danger to minors in society and his release from custody would be in direct conflict with maintaining community safety.” They described how the weight of the evidence against him “is extremely strong” and showed his alleged obsession with sexually exploiting minors and getting them to hurt themselves.

“Through social media conversations and investigative means, law enforcement confirmed Leedy’s ownership over the account used to encourage minors to engage in sadistic and sexual behavior,” prosecutors said. “Minor victims have been interviewed, identified themselves within conversations, and confirmed the horrific acts Leedy instructed them to do. Leedy very clearly engaged in this predatory behavior with approximately ten minor victims across the country.”

According to prosecutors, Leedy allegedly coached several girls through video chats and messages — instructing them to do sexual and harmful things to themselves using objects around their home. One minor, 13, was ordered to “use a blade to cut her breasts” and choke herself. Another was told to engage in “daily hangings,” according to prosecutors.

“Can ur life be full with cutting your boobs and tmmy for daddy, not eating and puking for daddy,” Leedy allegedly wrote in a message to the 13-year-old.

“Go get the belt so we can start choking u,” he allegedly said, before asking: “Have u ever put the end of the belt over the top of your door, and then close the door?”

Investigators with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office and FBI Tampa Office — with assistance from the St. Petersburg Police Department, FBI Atlanta Office and the Holly Springs Police Department — arrested Leedy in October, but he wasn’t officially indicted until last week.

“The nature and circumstances of the offenses charged are extremely serious,” prosecutors said in their motion for detention. “Leedy directed the three minor victims named in the indictment, along with approximately seven additional minor victims, to produce child pornography while on video calls with him to satisfy his own sexual deviant interest in children. The conversations continually revolved around his control over the minor victim, commenting on how ‘obedient’ they are and asking at least one minor victim to refer to him as ‘my Lord.””

Records from the Florida Department of Health show that he has been practicing medicine in the state since January 1991 and specializes in hospice and palliative care, according to local NBC affiliate WFLA. His identity wasn’t known to the alleged victims, nor was his profession.

“He hid behind the cloak of anonymity by either lying about his identity or using a black screen while engaging in video calls with the minor victims,” prosecutors said. “Everything that Leedy instructed these minor victims to do was either physically or mentally detrimental to the minor victims. He had absolutely no disregard for their safety and took advantage of children more than half his age to gratify himself.”