CPSO strips doctor of licence after child porn, voyeurism allegations
From thestar.com
While he may have been acquitted in criminal court of possessing child pornography and voyeurism, those same allegations would eventually prove to be the undoing of Dr. Kevin Johnston’s medical career.
Formerly known as Kevin Richard Speight, the 44-year-old man was stripped of his licence Monday by a disciplinary panel of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) and ordered to pay the college $5,000 in costs.
A family and emergency room doctor who practised in a number of cities including Toronto and Mississauga since 1999, Johnston pleaded no contest before the five-member panel to a charge of “conduct unbecoming of a physician.”
The plea means he did not contest the facts presented to the panel, but also did not admit guilt. His case demonstrates the differences in the threshold that must be met to prove guilt in a criminal case versus a disciplinary tribunal.
The disciplinary hearing heard that Johnston was acquitted in court in 2013 of criminal charges in relation to the 2010 purchase of 14 discs containing child pornography, according to a statement of uncontested facts.
“The court found that the Crown had not led any evidence of an essential element of the offence, namely that Dr. Johnston knew the nature and content of the images that he ordered,” the statement says.
The college began investigating Johnston in 2012, shortly after charges were laid. Following his acquittal, the college requested a further report from Toronto police to address the issue noted by the court.
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