The president of a Main Line board of commissioners has resigned more than a week after being arrested on child porn charges.
In a letter of resignation sent to Radnor Township Manager Robert Zienkowski Friday, Philip Ahr announced his decision to resign as president of the Radnor Township Board of Commissioners.
"Although I will continue to serve as Commissioner of the 7th Ward, the duties and the responsibilities of president of the board are demanding and personal reasons necessitate that I vacate my position as president of the board effective this date," Ahr wrote.
Ahr, 66, is accused of possession and distribution of images that depict children engaged in sex acts with adults.
Ahr turned himself into investigators on Oct. 11 and was freed after posting 10 percent of $100,000 bail following an arraignment.
The child porn charges came about three weeks after authorities raided Ahr’s Meredith Avenue home.
"As an elected individual and Chairman of Radnor Board of Commissioners, Mr. Ahr took an oath to serve and protect the residents, and for that reason we hold him to a higher standard of conduct," Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan said.
County investigators initially zeroed in on Ahr after receiving info from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a man uploading and sharing child pornography through Yahoo Messenger, Whelan's office said in a news release.
On Sept. 18, Verizon identified Ahr as the owner of the IP address connected to the porn, investigators said.
On Sept. 21, county detectives served a search warrant on Ahr's home. During the raid, Ahr told investigators that he owned two computers and led investigators to a desk in his basement with a laptop and desktop on it, police said in a criminal complaint obtained by NBC10.
Ahr admitted to "sexting" online with unknown people using Yahoo Messenger and that sometimes the conversations, using an email address he didn't want associated with his name, involved "sexual talk about children," investigators said.
During one conversation, a person sent him about a dozen images of girls Ahr thought were around 13 years old, investigators said. Ahr allegedly admitted to receiving the child pornography and sending it to another individual.
"Obviously I knew the images were illegal and don't know how I could say otherwise," Ahr told investigators at his home, according to the criminal complaint.
A forensic search of Ahr's computers showed chat logs dating back to 2013 where Ahr "shared and sought graphic images and videos of children in sexual positions, bondage and engaged in sex acts with adults," according to investigators.
Some of the shared images showed children as young as 2 involved in sex acts, investigators said.
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Ahr allegedly admitted to searching for "daddy daughter," "young" and "teen" pornography.
Police also say they uncovered more than 1,000 web links to pornographic images, some of children. Some of the links were hidden in Excel spreadsheets, investigators said.
The web pages led investigators to find more than 500 images and videos of child pornography.
"Ahr’s collection was mainly comprised of prepubescent girls under the age of 10 years, but also included infants and toddlers," the criminal complaint said.
Some images even showed children involved in sex acts with animals, detectives said.
The Democrat missed the board's Sept. 25 meeting following the raid of his home.
Ahr wasn't allowed to use any electronic devices, including smart phones, for any purposes outside of work ahead of his preliminary hearing which is set to take place Thursday.
