A “transgender man” who was accused of sexually abusing children while employed at therapy center for people with autism was found dead in a jail cell on Friday.
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Department in Indiana confirmed that Leomeir V. Kennedy, 30, of Vancouver, Washington, was found dead with “no evidence of foul play.”
JUST IN: A transgender man accused of molesting children at a Greenwood therapy center was found dead in his jail cell on Friday. https://t.co/lcNSAusfRw
— FOX59 News (@FOX59) August 11, 2023
According to local outlet Fox59, Kennedy was found unconscious at 9:32 a.m.. Kennedy was pronounced dead after CPR was unsuccessful.
93.1FM WIBC and Indy Star reported that Kennedy was dealing with cardiac arrest.
JUST IN: A transgender man accused of molesting children at a Greenwood therapy center was found dead in his jail cell on Friday. https://t.co/lcNSAusfRw
— FOX59 News (@FOX59) August 11, 2023
Indy Star reported that Kennedy was facing charges of child molestation and possession of child pornography in a case filed by Johnson County prosecutors in April. Reportedly, Kennedy admitted to molesting multiple children at his former employer, Hopebridge Autism Therapy Center in Indianapolis.
According to the report, a mother came to the police department and reported that Kennedy admitted to molesting her daughter. Kennedy worked at the center eight to nine months and was a “primary caretaker of young children with autism,” the outlet added.
In April, Fox 59 reported that Kennedy said he took the job at the center to prey on children. His cell phone and computer were turned into police in April and he gave a testimony (via Fox 59):
A probable cause affidavit stated Kennedy admitted to molesting a child while babysitting in October of 2017. He claimed it happened once while changing the child’s diaper.
Investigators were then told that Kennedy moved out of Indiana until about one year ago. He soon began working at Hopebridge Autism Therapy Center in Greenwood, a center that specializes in children.
Kennedy said he wanted to work there because he considered it a “victim pool,” court documents state. He also claimed he thought he “could really help children with autism grow.” He was licensed as a behavior technician, online records show.
[...]
In order to avoid suspicion, Kennedy admitted to only preying on children who were not clients assigned to him. He told investigators he would molest children that he would take care of while their usual caregivers were on their lunch break.
[...]
Kennedy told investigators he was confessing to rid himself of the “snakes and shadows” inside of him.
A search of Kennedy’s electronics reportedly found a search on DuckDuckGo of a “13-year-old gang raped” and two sexual images of very young children he received from someone on the Whispr app.
In addition, investigators uncovered that Kennedy was talking to other pedophiles through apps and admitted to receiving sexually explicit photos of young children.
“They [non-verbal children] can’t talk to us. They depend on them [the workers at the center] and us,” the mother of one survivor told Fox59. “For someone who we have to trust and they have to trust to do something like this is sickening. It’s terrible.”