It was a child exploitation investigation that spanned from New Zealand to Canada that included an undercover agent conducting an online chat with a suspect believed to be from Toronto.

On Monday, Toronto police say, that multi-jurisdictional investigation culminated in the arrest of Benjamin Levin, a celebrated U of T education professor and highly regarded civil servant. The child pornography charges stunned colleagues in academic and political circles.

The father of three, who was named to Premier Kathleen Wynne’s transition team in January, will “vigorously defend” against the charges, lawyer Gerald Chan told reporters outside a North York courthouse Monday afternoon, following Levin’s arrest.

Investigators in New Zealand made contact with a suspect on an open online forum in January, said Jon Peacock, a senior inspector with a New Zealand internal affairs unit that specializes in online child-abuse investigations.

After several months of sporadic contact, the suspect sent “child abuse materials” to the investigator, Peacock said.

“As soon as that happened, we sent it to our colleagues at Toronto sex crimes,” he said.

Toronto police charged Levin, 61, with two counts of distributing child pornography and one count each of making child pornography, counselling to commit an indictable offence and agreeing to or arranging for a sexual offence against a child under 16.

Toronto police sources say the continued probe “overlaps” with investigations in New Zealand and England.

News of the arrest shocked associates in the academic and political communities between which Levin has split his professional life. He has been an educator, travelling the globe speaking on policy and research, and a public servant, appointed deputy minister for education in Manitoba and in Ontario, under former premier Dalton McGuinty.

Levin was named to Wynne’s transition team after she became leader of the Ontario Liberal Party in January.

He is currently a tenured professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto and is the Canada research chair in education leadership and policy.

Education Minister Liz Sandals attempted to distance the provincial government from Levin on Monday.

“Dr. Levin’s only recent involvement with the Ministry has been on contract research projects and guest speaking roles through his capacity as a professor at OISE, work that has been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation,” she said in a statement. “The Government of Ontario takes allegations of this nature extremely seriously.”

After police raided the Glengarry Ave. home Levin owns with his wife, the father of three appeared in a North York courtroom wearing black dress pants and a crisp blue short-sleeved dress shirt. He sat in the prisoner’s box with his hands folded over his lap, rubbing his thumbs and looking out to where two of his three brothers sat in the back row.

Levin, who is being represented by Gerald Chan, from the law offices of prominent criminal defence lawyer Clayton Ruby, will remain in custody until Wednesday, when a bail hearing is scheduled.

Chan told reporters outside the courthouse that the Crown asked the court for more time to investigate, and could not say whether more charges are expected.

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He spoke of his client’s status in the education community and his family — including his wife and three daughters, who tie him to the city.

“This is not someone whose bail should be denied,” Chan said. “In the circumstances, he’s holding up reasonably well . . . He’s anxious to defend the charges.”

An elder statesman of Canadian education, Levin — a soft-spoken man with a wry wit — is widely admired not only for his expertise in classroom innovation and teacher training, but his ease in putting it into plain English — a skill that has made him a popular media commentator.

According to Levin’s curriculum vitae posted online, he has made many trips in recent years for conferences and seminars, including to New Zealand, the most recent of which was in 2011 to speak to post-primary teachers at a conference.

Those who know him in both education and political circles were so stunned by the charges, few were willing to comment at all.

“It’s unbelievable that it would be him,” said one close colleague at the University of Toronto, who added that some students were brought to tears by the news. “It sounds crazy — You always hear people say, ‘He is such a nice man’ when someone is arrested like this . . . But it’s true. You would never expect it.”

The University of Toronto and the University of Manitoba both declined to comment, citing the ongoing police investigation.

“The University takes these charges seriously and is cooperating fully with the police investigation in this matter,” said a statement from the University of Toronto.

According to his CV, the Winnipeg native graduated from the University of Manitoba and then Harvard University before earning his doctorate in educational administration at the U of T.

Levin became the dean of continuing education at the University of Manitoba before rising to high-ranking positions in the Manitoba government, including deputy minister of both the department of advanced education and department of education, training and youth, between 1999 and 2002.

He was recruited by the McGuinty government in 2004 to become deputy education minister, where he served until 2009. Several McGuinty staff members told the Star Monday they were devastated, as they thought highly of Levin, who was involved in major education reforms.

At Queen’s Park, Wynne’s office said it could not comment on a matter under investigation and referred all questions to the police.

With files from Julian Sher, Robert Benzie and Louise Brown

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