Baldwin-Whitehall school custodian charged with possessing child porn
Police on Monday arrested a Baldwin-Whitehall School District custodian on numerous child pornography charges after a monthslong investigation found the Whitehall man stored thousands of sexually explicit videos and images on multiple cellphones, authorities said.
Michael Siar, 55, was arraigned early Monday on 22 counts of possessing child pornography and three counts of criminal use of a communication facility. District Judge David J. Barton released Siar on nonmonetary bail.
Siar had been placed on administrative leave from his school post in May when police executed a search warrant for his South Emblem Drive home, his black Subaru and three Samsung Galaxy cellphones, according to Whitehall police Chief Jason C. Gagorik and a criminal complaint in the case.
Authorities do not believe any of the images or videos found on Siar’s personal devices were connected to his employment with the school district, Gagorik said.
School district Superintendent Randal A. Lutz did not immediately return a phone call Monday morning seeking comment.
Gagorik said “thousands of images and videos of young children engaged in various sexual acts” were found on devices seized from Siar during a four-month investigation led by the U.S. Secret Service and Whitehall police.
Investigators said they extracted 17 video files and 2,896 image files from three of Siar’s cellphones on June 3.
Siar admitted to police that he exchanged “child sexual abuse material” through the social messenger application Kik, according to the complaint. He also admitted he used social media apps such as Instagram and Threads to find explicit images. the complaint said.
Siar’s attorney was not listed Monday in court records. Siar could not be reached for comment.
Gagorik said the custodian “had no access to Baldwin–Whitehall school facilities during this investigation.”
The investigation started in April when Whitehall police learned the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received 13 tips that Siar possessed child pornography, the complaint said.
The FBI Greater Pittsburgh Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force assisted in the investigation.
Justin Vellucci is a TribLive reporter covering crime and public safety in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. A longtime freelance journalist and former reporter for the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press, he worked as a general assignment reporter at the Trib from 2006 to 2009 and returned in 2022. He can be reached at jvellucci@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.