By Bill Vidonic

Published: Wednesday, January 23, 2013, 12:38 p.m.
Updated: Thursday, January 24, 2013

A state trooper investigating an online child-porn network downloaded a sex video featuring a young girl from a computer in the home of the Seven Fields mayor, according to a search warrant made public on Wednesday.

Mayor Edward Bayne, 44, said police instructed him not to talk about the investigation.

He said he had 20 computers in the home and that his status as mayor is unchanged.

He said he doesn't have a lawyer.

State police did not return phone messages seeking comment. No charges were filed as of Wednesday afternoon.

The search warrant states that “there is probable cause to believe that a user of the computer (at Bayne's address) is a collector, distributor and possessor of child pornography.”

Borough manager Tom Smith said Bayne missed the Jan. 14 council meeting and hasn't contacted officials in about a week.

Bayne sent an email saying a member of his family had undergone a medical procedure. Smith referred additional questions to state police.

Council appointed Bayne as mayor in 2006 to fill an unexpired term. Voters elected him in 2009 to a full, four-year term.

The search warrant — which state police Cpl. Bernard J. Novak filed in District Judge David Kovach's Cranberry office — said police served the warrant on Jan. 16. Investigators wanted to search for and seize computers; software and related documentation; passwords; and security devices that could hide data. It did not list what state police took from Bayne's home.

Police are trying to identify anyone who might have been involved in sharing or viewing the file.

While investigating child pornography on the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file-sharing network on Oct. 24, Trooper David Powell found a computer sharing files with child pornography, the search warrant states.

One file, a five-minute movie, depicted a girl, age 9 or 10, performing a sex act on a man, the warrant stated.

Through the file-sharing program, police identified the computer containing the video as being in the Bayne home. Police downloaded 24 files from the computer.

On his Facebook page, Bayne lists his occupation as a business development manager for Xerox Corp., and also names a wife and four children.

Bill Vidonic is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-5621 or bvidonic@tribweb.com.

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