Feds say baby girl died after St. John’s doctor found Pete forced her to produce porn videos. What’s worth knowing.

When officers arrested Stephen Leedy last month on a winding Georgia road near the Blue Ridge Mountains, he seemed stunned by the accusations.

Officers issued an arrest warrant on federal charges against 59-year-old Leedy forced minors to create materials depicting child sexual abuse.

A palliative care doctor in St. Petersburg told them it must be a case of mistaken identity and easily provided the smartphone password.

A few weeks later, federal prosecutors filed a motion to keep Leedy in custody while he awaited trial. They cited evidence showing he posed a danger to society: Prosecutors say Leedy preyed on 10 children, and a 13-year-old girl in Pasco County died after he ordered her to hang herself.

Her death was ruled an accident, a Pasco County Sheriff’s Office spokesman said in a statement emailed to the Tampa Bay Times.

Autopsy records obtained by the Los Angeles Times show that Leedy communicated with the girl via Discord, a messaging and video calling application. Prosecutors said he hid his identity under an anonymous username and never showed his face on camera.

If convicted, Leedy faces life in prison, although no murder charges have been brought in connection with the girl’s death.

He is in federal custody in Atlanta on three counts of producing child sexual abuse material and two counts of forcing or encouraging a minor to engage in sexual activity.

Here’s what you need to know about Leedy’s allegations, the messaging platform used and how parents can protect their children online.

The girl died, but no murder charges were brought

Prosecutors usually bring charges that best fit the evidence they have. Legal experts say finding Leedy criminally responsible for the Pasco girl’s death will be more difficult than it might seem.

If prosecutors’ goal is to put Leedy in prison for life, they would probably have a better chance of charging him with child pornography than by trying to pin the murder on him, said Todd Foster, a former federal prosecutor and FBI agent.

“It looks like they have a lot of very, very strong evidence about pornography. So if they only prove a pornography case, it might be easier for them than trying to prove a murder case in state court,” he said.

Leedy faces multiple life sentences for sexual abuse charges. Because federal charges typically carry a higher minimum mandatory sentence than state charges, Foster said Leedy could receive a longer sentence than what he would face in state court.

“In addition to a sentence that would expose the defendant to the death penalty, the exposure he faces is enormous,” Foster said.

According to Stephen Romine, a Pinellas defense attorney, the accidental nature of the girl’s death also makes it difficult for prosecutors to charge Leedy in connection with her death.

“If they had said, ‘Well, she hanged herself, but she didn’t mean to hang herself,’ I wouldn’t have expected him to be charged with murder,” Romine said.

This means Leedy is unlikely to be charged under Florida’s “assisted suicide” law, a manslaughter charge that applies in cases where a person encouraged another person to commit suicide.

“There’s going to be a lot of trouble prosecuting the other person who told them what to do,” Romine said. “However, this does not mean that there are no legal consequences – they simply may not be criminal in nature,” he said.

A civil lawyer can argue on behalf of the family that Leedy was negligent or reckless when she instructed the girl to restrict her breathing.

“This person was a child. They certainly wouldn’t expect a child to know how to do things like that,” Romine said.

Prosecutors said Leedy communicated with the girl over the Internet, instructing her to self-harm remotely, making it difficult to charge him with child abuse or other violent crimes, Romine added.

Sexual victimization experts say it’s easier for predators who can operate solely online to hide their crimes. On a platform like Discord, anonymity is easy.

What is Discord?

According to A. Discord is a “voice, video and text chat application.” parenting guide published by the platform.

Users communicate through virtual spaces called “servers” that allow them to share messages, images, and files. The platform is popular among millennials, Generation Z and Generation Alpha.

Influencers and streamers often use this platform to increase engagement with their content and create a place for their audience to gather online and socialize.

It is unclear how Leedy used the platform, but Tiff Jenson, a sociology and criminology researcher at the University of Florida, said his alleged behavior demonstrated his ability to groom victims online.

“The most disturbing thing about this case was the fact that there were many victims,” she said. “This perpetrator clearly knows what he is doing. They know how to identify defenseless victims.”

Prosecutors said Leedy used the username “maximumuncle#9112” in Discord messages to victims. He also kept a black screen to hide his identity.

Jenson said predators may hide behind cover to calm their prey. Children who are forced into sexual abuse often feel guilt or shame and find it easier to confide in a stranger, she added.

Anonymity also protects the perpetrator, she added.

“The higher a person’s position in society, the more likely they are to hide their identity because they have a lot to lose if they get caught,” Jenson said.

But digital forensics in criminal cases research is proficient she stated that discovering traces on the Internet connecting predators with their prey.

“Our internet fingerprint is much bigger than we think,” Jenson said. “We think we’re sneaky at hiding our virtual selves, but we’re not.”

What should parents know?

Jenson said it’s largely up to parents to protect their children online.

By monitoring their digital footprint or limiting the apps a child can use, parents can more closely track what their children are doing. Jenson listed several red flags that might prompt a parent to search their child’s phone or room.

“If you notice changes in behavior where your child becomes more private, it means they are not as open to talking. “They seem to be very anxious and worried that you have your phone on you, or they can’t get away from it,” she said.

A child’s cell phone is a privilege, not a right, Jenson said. She added that because predators often contact children after dark, a good precaution is to take your child’s phone away before bed.

“Sometimes parents respect their children’s privacy so much that they allow them to destroy themselves in private,” Jenson said. “This really needs to stop.”

• • •

How to get help

If you are a victim of sexual assault, call 911. Rape crisis centers are legally and ethically obligated to protect confidentiality.

Hillsborough County: If you need support, assistance or an exam, contact the Tampa Bay 24-Hour Sexual Violence Crisis Center by calling 211 or visiting crisiscentrum.com.

Pasco County: For help and support, contact Sunrise of Pasco County at 1-888-668-7273 or 352-521-3120 or go to their website www.sunrisepasco.org.

Pinellas County: If you need support, assistance or an exam, call the Suncoast Center at 727-530-7273 or go to the website suncoastcenter.org.