ELKHART Police say a man accused of sharing “copious” 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 about making trades.
He was booked in the Elkhart County Correctional Facility on $100,000 bond.
According to court documents:
Elkhart police received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in July saying that Google had reported finding child porn 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 that were uploaded included a picture 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 cell numbers associated with the account.
A search warrant was obtained 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 allege that 140 files depicting possible child sexual abuse were found on one phone and 70 more files were found on another device.
In court documents in support of Sherfick’s arrest, police provided details on just a few dozen of the hundreds of sexually explicit photos and videos involving children and adults.
The third phone contained photos of Sherfick and children in the daycare, as well as Telegram app conversations about trading child porn files, according to police.
Police interviewed Sherfick in July and again on Tuesday. In the first interview he acknowledged working at the daycare and confirmed his Gmail address, as as well as looking at “younger” porn online, according to police.
He initially denied taking the first photo of a toddler that police found, then allegedly said he may have done it to show signs of abuse or a 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 any of the child porn that was shared through Telegram but did not answer when asked if he had uploaded files to the account.
He also allegedly admitted to taking the daycare photo and said it “should not have been taken” and that he thought he had deleted it.
https://news.yahoo.com/news/daycare-worker-faces-child-porn-000100759.html