Preliminary Hearing for Fairchild Man Charged with Possession of Drugs and Child Pornography
Friday, June 21st, 2013 -- 1:00 PM
-A Fairchild man had a preliminary hearing in Clark County Court on Thursday for drug charges and possession of child pornography.Tod Nicolai, age 48, was arrested in May for possession of child pornography after his laptop computer was discovered in a ditch and turned into the authorities. Nicolai had claimed it was stolen and in trying to determine who it belonged to the Clark County Sheriff?s Department discovered thousands of images of child pornography.
During his arrest, and subsequent search of Nicolai?s home, they discovered more images and videos of explicit material involving children. They also found drugs and drug paraphernalia. Also, during this time, it was discovered that Nicolai is a registered sex offender as he sexually assaulted his nieces back in the early 90?s.
Nicolai has 10 counts of possession of child pornography filed against him. Several drug charges have been filed against him as well including possession of THC, possession of drug paraphernalia, maintaining a drug trafficking place, possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver.
During the prelim, two detectives from the Clark County Sherriff?s Department explained their background and past experiences identifying drugs and searching digital equipment. They also explained how the items from Nicolai?s home were discovered.
During this time, Detective Jeff Baumgarten explained why Nicolai only has 10 counts of possession of child pornography filed against him. Of the thousands of images discovered, the 10 picked were the most explicit and the children were the youngest, not being more than 10 years old.
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