EVANS CITY — Two preliminary hearings related to child porn were conducted back-to-back Tuesday.

Both James McCarthy, 55, of Mars, and Anthony “A.J.” Bayle, 20, of Harmony, appeared in court before District Judge Wayne Seibel.

McCarthy's hearing was first. He had been transported from Butler County Prison, where he has remained on $10,000 bond.

McCarthy allegedly was found by investigators from the state Attorney General's office to have many forms of child pornography saved between two computers and a cellphone.

McCarthy waived his right to a preliminary hearing Tuesday, which forwards all 25 felony counts of child pornography and one felony count of criminal use of communication facilities forward to the Butler County Common Pleas Court.

At the request of McCarthy's public defender Kevin Flaherty, Seibel reduced the man's bond from $10,000 to $5,000, maintaining conditions that McCarthy would have limited access to the internet.

Less than 30 minutes later, Bayle, along with his parents, appeared in court. Following his arraignment, Bayle was released on a non-monetary bond, including conditions limiting his access to the internet.

Bayle has been charged with one count of child pornography and one count of criminal use of communication facilities.

State Police Cpl. Nathan Brown testified that in March of 2020, a tip was received from Instagram about child pornography being shared by Bayle's account. He said a search was executed more than one year later on March 5.

Brown said Bayle had received a link from which one video of child pornography had been downloaded.

“It was an image of two male juveniles and one female juvenile, totally naked, and they were engaged in sexual orientation,” Brown said. “(Bayle) admitted to viewing child pornography.”

During cross-examination of Brown, Bayle's attorney Michael Zunder established state police had not verified the message sent on Instagram was sent to a legitimate address.

“I could send anything to anywhere,” said Zunder, following an objection by Assistant District Attorney David Beichner to the relevance of the question.

Zunder also asked whether the link could have been accessed unknowingly, which the trooper said was possible.

Despite the line of questioning, Zunder did not argue for the charges to be dropped, and Seibel ruled to send the charges to county court.

Formal arraignments for both men were scheduled for Sept. 7.