ELKHART – Police say a man accused of sharing “large” amounts of sexually explicit photos and videos of children online worked at a daycare at the time.
Jamie Sherfick, 26, faces one count of child exploitation as a Level 4 felony and 10 counts of possession of child pornography, a Level 5 felony, after his arrest Tuesday. Police say they found numerous files on his devices, as well as discussions on how to execute trades.
He was booked into the Elkhart County Correctional Facility on a $100,000 bond.
According to court documents:
Elkhart police received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in July stating that Google had reported finding child pornography files uploaded to a Gmail user’s account. One was a photo of a toddler with her pants and diaper pulled down and the other was a video of an adult engaging in sexual activity with a child.
Other files uploaded included a photo of Sherfick’s Indiana driver’s license and a photo of him wearing an apron with the name of a daycare center, according to police. Google provided Sherfick’s name and three mobile numbers associated with the account.
A search warrant was issued to examine Sherfick’s electronic devices and police seized three cellphones. The phones were sent to the Indiana State Police Laboratory in Fort Wayne for data extraction.
Police claim 140 files containing possible child sexual abuse were found on one phone and another 70 files on another device. In court documents supporting Sherfick’s arrest, police provided details about only a few dozen of hundreds of sexually explicit photos and videos involving children and adults.
According to police, the third phone contained photos of Sherfick and children in daycare, as well as conversations in the Telegram app about trading child pornography files.
Police interviewed Sherfick in July and again on Tuesday. In the first interview, he acknowledged that he worked at daycare, confirmed his Gmail address and, according to police, looked at “young person” porn online.
He initially denied taking the first photo of a toddler found by police, but then reportedly said he may have done so to show signs of abuse or diaper rash. Police say the daycare owner confirmed that Sherfick never shared any concerns with her or showed her a photo.
In the recent interview, police say Sherfick denied creating child pornography shared via Telegram, but did not answer questions about whether he had uploaded files to the account. He also allegedly admitted to taking the daycare photo, saying it “shouldn’t have been taken” and that he thought he had deleted it.
