NO CHARGES AGAINST CONDUCTOR ACCUSED OF SEX MISCONDUCT
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s office announced Friday that no criminal charges will be filed against famed conductor James Levine after he was accused of sexual misconduct.
The state’s attorney’s office said the incidents in question “are alleged to have occurred in the summer of 1986 and 1987when the complainant was 16 and 17 years old, respectively.”
At the time of the alleged incidents, the age of consent for sexual activity in Illinois was 16, the state’s attorney’s office said in a statement.
“A thorough reviewof all applicable statutes and evidence in this case was conducted in an attempt to corroborate the allegations made by the complainant and determine if any criminal activity occurred,” the statement said. “Specifically, investigators and attorneys reviewed the relevant Statute of Limitations, all potential criminal statutes, multiple statements made by the complainant to the police, as well as various witness statements.”
Levine’s accuser, now middle- aged, contacted the police in Lake Forest in October 2016 to report he’d had sexual contact with the conductor when he was under age 18. He said he was reaching out to police in Lake Forest because some of his encounters with Levine took place there in the mid1980s. Levine was serving as music director at the nearby Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, from1973 to 1993.
Since the time of the alleged incidents, the state’s attorney’s office noted, Illinois has raised its age of consent to 17.