Novato Probation Check for Drugs Turns into Child Porn Arrest

discovered images of child pornography on a computer owed by a Novato man during a drug-related probation search Tuesday night, police said.

Officers were searching the residence of a 49-year-old man on Del Mar Avenue as part of a narcotics investigation when they found pornography and video depicting the suspect making sexual penetration with a foreign object, according to Novato police Sgt. Jennifer Welch.

William Jay Taylor, who lives one block away from , was arrested and booked into Marin County Jail at 7:15 a.m. Wednesday and his bail was set at $500,000. He faces felony charges of penetration with a foreign object, sexual exploitation of a child, sale or distribution of obscene matter and sending obscene matter to persons under the age of 18. He also is suspected of possession obscene matter depicting a child under age 14, a misdemeanor.

The Marin County Major Crimes Task Force assisted with the narcotics investigation. Between five to 10 officers from the task force, the county probation department and Novato PD were at the home when Taylor was arrested, said Novato police Lt. John McCarthy. Investigators also found methamphetamines at the residence and Novato police said the investigation will continue.

Taylor was not a registered sex offender, according to the Megan’s Law database, but he was on probation for a conviction in Sonoma County, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department. Records show was convicted by a jury on felony weapons charges in 2008 and had previous arrests for assault and making terrorist threats.

Taylor, who is believed to have moved to Novato one year ago according to Sonoma County probation records, was arrested Tuesday night but released on bail early Wednesday morning due to a communication error on a probation hold, McCarthy said. Taylor was arrested a second time and rebooked at 7:15 a.m. Wednesday.

Tuesday's arrest came on the same day a 62-year-old Novato man was arrested as a suspect in a .

Bail was set at $1 million for Gary Albert Toti following his Tuesday morning arrest at his home in Bahia. He faces five felony charges ranging from sexual intercourse with a child under 10 years old, penetration with a foreign object and lewd and lascivious conduct with a child under 14.

The girl involved in that case is a 7-year-old living in Fontana, near Riverside.