Cotati man accused of possessing child porn

A local tow truck driver has been arrested for allegedly possessing thousands of downloaded images of child pornography, Cotati police said Saturday.

George Clair, 36, of Cotati is being held on $500,000 bail in Sonoma County Jail after a monthslong probe that led to his arrest Aug. 11.

The investigation was sparked by a tip from the Internet provider AOL to the Virginia-based National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

"I guess through their normal internal checks, AOL saw an image being downloaded and said, 'Oh, this is not right,' " said Cotati Police Officer Chris Diaz.

Clair worked at a Cotati towing company and lived on company property in a mobile home, according to the company owner, who asked not to be named. He said Clair is originally from Virginia and that he hired him about three years ago.

Cotati police announced the investigation and arrest in a statement Saturday. Diaz said that since the initial tip from AOL, the investigation has turned up many more digital images of child pornography in Clair's possession.

"We were sent a single image," Diaz said. "Now we're up to a lot. We're going to get up in the thousands when we're done."

Diaz said the case is still under investigation and that anyone with information is asked to call 792-4611.

-- Martin Espinoza