Panel Recommends Against Clearing Convict's Record

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Parole Board on Tuesday voted 3-0 to recommend against clearing the criminal record of a man who was convicted of sexual battery and impersonating a police officer, 6News' Jack Rinehart reported.

Michael Sherfick, 35, who also was convicted of driving with a suspended license, sought a pardon for his offenses during Tuesday's parole board hearing. The board's recommendation will go to the governor.

During the hearing, Sherfick said his volunteerism and his charitable giving were reasons why he should be given a pardon.

"I pleaded guilty to a sexual battery charge. The fact that I pleaded guilty -- I'm sorry that it happened to her, and I'm sorry that it happened to me," Sherfick told the board members.

Sherfick pleaded guilty in 1994 to class D felony sexual battery in a case involving an Indianapolis woman. He later successfully petitioned a court to reduce the felony to a misdemeanor and get his name removed from the state's sex offender registry.

He was convicted of a misdemeanor count of impersonating a police officer after he showed identification from two separate police agencies when he had been stopped for a traffic violation, Rinehart reported.

Several times, Sherfick was hired by police agencies and then fired when his employers learned that he was a registered sex offender, Rinehart reported.

Indianapolis police Officer Linda Jackson attended Tuesday's hearing and told the board that Sherfick should not be pardoned.

"Those are crimes that would not make him worthy to be a special deputy, even," Jackson said.