Police Check Whether Ex-Deputy Constable Sold Badges

INDIANAPOLIS -- State police and the FBI are investigating whether a former Perry Township deputy constable who has a criminal record illegally sold law-enforcement badges to people, 6News' Jack Rinehart reported Friday.

Authorities searched Michael Sherfick's Hamilton County home on Thursday in connection with the investigation. Sherfick, who was a Perry Township deputy constable despite convictions including for sexual battery, was fired in September after the FBI told his boss that Sherfick was suspected of selling deputy constable badges.

No charges have been filed, but Perry Township Constable Roy Houchins said authorities are checking allegations that Sherfick (pictured) used his position to order badges and then illegally sold dozens of them to people who weren't law enforcement officers at $500 to $2,000 apiece.

"He ordered the badges. I never saw the badges he ordered," Houchins said Friday.

Houchins said he also has filed with state police a report alleging that Sherfick forged Houchins' signature to obtain law-enforcement license plates for Sherfick's personal SUV.

Sherfick has convictions on charges of sexual battery, impersonating a police officer and driving with a suspended license. Earlier this year, the Indiana Parole Board voted against his request to clear his criminal record.

The sexual battery conviction -- he pleaded guilty in 1994 in a case involving an Indianapolis woman -- initially was on a class D felony charge. 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.

Houchins said he made a mistake in hiring Sherfick.

"I didn't know there was a bad apple in the bottom of the bushel," Houchins said.