Seven Fields mayor investigated in child porn case
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The mayor of Seven Fields is under investigation after Pennsylvania State Police computer crimes investigators found child pornography on a computer inside his home.
No charges have been filed
According to an affidavit of probable cause, state police investigators obtained a search warrant last week and seized computers in Edward Bayne's home on Graywyck Drive.
On one machine, they found 24 files, including a video involving a 9-year-old girl.
An October investigation into child porn on a file-sharing network led one of the computer crimes investigators to an Internet protocol address assigned to a computer by a Butler service provider.
The investigator obtained a court order, which was served on the service provider, who linked the IP address to a computer in the Bayne home, according to the affidavit.
Mr. Bayne has been mayor of the 3,500-resident borough in Butler County since 2006. He was elected in 2009 and started a term in January 2010 that expires at the end of this year.
According to his LinkedIn page, he is also employed as a managing principal at Xerox.
Borough manager Tom Smith said the mayor's office is "ceremonial" in the borough, which borders Cranberry and has a government run by a council and manager. The mayor has no access to borough computers and is not issued a cell phone, Mr. Smith said.
Mr. Bayne was not present at the council meeting Jan. 14 and emailed Mr. Smith the next day, saying he "didn't attend because of a medical operation or situation with a family member," Mr. Smith said.
First Published January 24, 2013 11:44 am
