Kathleen Wynne's buddy Ben Levin: Child pornography charges were the least of it

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Jun 18, 2007
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On Friday, former Ontario deputy minister of education, Ben Levin, was sentenced to three years in the penitentiary. In March, Levin pleaded guilty to one count each of possessing child pornography, making child pornography, and counselling the commission of a sexual assault. Four other child porn related charges were withdrawn by the Crown.

At the time of his arrest in July 2013, Levin was a world renowned expert in childhood education and was a professor of education at the University of Toronto. At one time he held the position of deputy minister of education in Manitoba.

According to the Agreed Statement of Facts [PDF], read in to support his guilty pleas, Levin often frequented Internet chatrooms involving teens and incest. He told others of his interests in having sex with children.

In records found by the police, Levin had a list of contacts, many with the word “fake” noted beside the names. Three of his contacts were Jannelle Blackadar, Angela Johnson and Russell Joe Gray. The much praised professor did not seem to think they were fake although he had doubts about Blackadar. All three were undercover police officers. Blackadar is a member of the Toronto Police Force, Johnson is a police officer in London, Ontario while Gray is an investigator in New Zealand. All three posed as mothers with young children.

As Ben Levin held high profile positions within the Liberal government of Ontario, most of the media downplayed his crimes. On many occasions when the disgraced educator made court appearances the only media covering it was the former Sun News Network. This was in sharp contrast with the coverage of former CBC personality Jian Ghomeshi who was charged with numerous sex crimes. Police were needed to escort Ghomeshi through the throngs of reporters waiting outside the courtroom.


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Ben Levin: Child pornography charges were the least of it