Novato Man Offered to Pay Kids to Let Him Massage Them, Police Say

By Bay City News Service:

Novato police have arrested a man suspected of offering money to another man and five juveniles if they would let him massage them, a police sergeant said.

The incidents occurred between September 2013 and Aug. 30, Sgt. Mike Howard said.

Jonathan Matthew Sobol, 27, of Novato, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of indecent exposure and annoying or molesting a child, Howard said.

Some of the offenses occurred at the Novato Square Shopping Center and Harvest Marketplace. The suspect allegedly exposed himself in one of the incidents, Howard said.

On Tuesday, one of the juvenile victims, who saw the suspect and his vehicle in the downtown area, photographed the vehicle and informed police, Howard said.

Police used information from the photo to conduct a search of a license plate database.

A vehicle in the database matched the previously reported vehicle descriptions and Sobol was tentatively identified as the suspect, Howard said.