Former school bus driver who lived near Latrobe Elementary School charged with 100 counts of child porn
A former school bus driver who lived a block away from Latrobe Elementary School was arrested after being charged with 100 felony counts of possessing child sexual abuse materials on his cellphone.
Pennsylvania State Police say that the 100 files of child pornography that were downloaded to 62-year-old Edward R. Smith's mobile device were obtained using a social media app.
"The app is Zangi, where it appears he was exchanging or receiving these videos and images, most likely from adults," said state police trooper Steve Limani. "They could have been people who reported themselves as kids, but most likely they could be adults that were sharing these disgusting and vile images."
Police say they had begun investigating Smith almost a year ago after a cyber tip was submitted to them.
No one from the videos, they say, appears to be local, but police say the videos depicted inappropriate sexual acts involving children as young as 3 and as old as 15.
Smith lived just one block from Latrobe Elementary School and was at one point a school bus driver with the Smith Bus Company based in Blairsville. Smith is not related to the Smith Bus Company.
"He worked only in a part-time capacity and that part-time capacity, I think that for those of us who have children could understand that as he would maybe be driving to a sporting event where there's a coach or a field trip where there's a chaperone," said Limani. "So during the course of his capacity, he did not work there where he was solely around children. He would only be with children when there was a chaperone, which could constitute a coach, approved parent, a teacher for field trips, things of that nature."
In a statement, the Smith Bus Company said:
"Edward R. Smith was an employee that worked as a part-time trip driver for our company. As a trip only driver Mr. Smith would have not operated a vehicle without a school district employee onboard, such as Coach, Teacher and/or Chaperone on the bus. Smith Bus Company will cooperate fully with law enforcement."
KDKA's news partners at the Latrobe Bulletin confirmed that the Smith Bus Company services the Derry Area, Kiski Area, Armstrong, River Valley, Homer-Center and Marion Center Area school districts. They also confirmed that Smith was hired in October 2000 when he passed all clearances and background checks required by both schools and the state. Smith was fired from the bus company this week after they learned of the allegations against him.
Smith is being housed in the Westmoreland County Prison. He was unable to make his $25,000 bail. He has a preliminary hearing coming up on Monday, Aug. 17.
Limani says that anyone with information on this case or other cases should report it to either the state police or to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678. Survivors of sexual abuse can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800- 656-4673.
