It was an arrest that led to a conviction and then, earlier this week, a prison sentence of nearly 27 years for 50 year-old former Grady Hospital Dr. Adam Wayne Lebowitz after being found guilty of child exploitation. And it all stemmed from a tip in 2006 from a 15 year-old east Coweta County woman and her son.
Lebowitz, of Decatur, was convicted in February on charges of producing child pornography and attempting to coerce and entice a child to engage in unlawful sex acts. He was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Richard Story to 26 years and eight months in federal prison.
“As a doctor, this defendant took an oath to ‘never do harm’ to anyone. He not only violated that oath, he sexually violated children and then published his violation on the internet, victimizing the children each time the videos were viewed. His long term of incarceration ensures that he will no longer threaten another child,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said of the sentence.
Explaining how the events unfolded that led to the conviction, Yates said Lebowitz came to the attention of law enforcement officers at the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office on October 26, 2006, after a victim, a 15-year-old boy, received a series of emails and sexually graphic instant messages from Lebowitz. The victim’s mother contacted the sheriff’s office and reported these on-line messages sent by Lebowitz to her son. The sheriff’s office then began an undercover investigation of Lebowitz that culminated in his arrest in the driveway of the victim’s home on November 2, 2006. Evidence at trial showed Lebowitz had multiple condoms and sexual lubricants inside his vehicle at the time of his arrest, and had planned to transport the victim to Lebowitz’s home in Decatur, Yates said.
Yates said that, following the arrest, the sheriff’s office obtained and executed a search warrant of Lebowitz’s home.
“During the search, investigators seized three computers, two of which contained video recordings of Lebowitz engaged in sex acts with two young boys. Members of the FBI’s Safe Child Task Force identified the victims in the video recordings and contacted them,” said Yates. ”Both victims revealed that Lebowitz had recorded himself engaged in graphic sex acts with these victims when both were minors. An examination of Lebowitz’s computers, performed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, revealed that Lebowitz had sent images from his recordings of the two young victims over the internet. He was indicted on the charges on June 12, 2007, and a superseding indictment was filed on February 9, 2010.”
Commenting on the conviction and sentencing, Coweta County Sheriff Mike Yeager noted the work of the agencies responsible for bringing Lebowitz to justice and cautioned parents to keep close watch on their children.
“I appreciate a lot of hard work by many agencies to bring this case to a successful conclusion. Parents, get involved and stay involved with your children. Know where they are and who they are in contact with. As long as individuals like this continue to prey on our youth, law enforcement will be there to put them away, hopefully for a long time,” Yeager said.
The case was investigated by members of the FBI’s “Safe Child Task Force,” the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office, the Clayton County Police Department and the GBI, with assistance from U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Computer Forensics Division. Assistance in this case was also provided by the Coweta County District Attorney’s Office.
