Austin Michael Sherburne

SILVER LAKE — A Silver Lake man is facing charges after police found disturbing information on his phone. 

Austin Michael Sherburne, 18, 205 E. Sycamore St., Silver Lake, is being charged with vicarious sexual gratification, a level 5 felony; and stolen valor, a class A misdemeanor. 

According to the affidavit of probable cause, on Wednesday, Jan. 30, an employee at Fellowship Missions, Warsaw, contacted the Warsaw Police Department. The employee told police he had received information that Sherburne had used his cell phone to organize a drug deal.

When Sherburne was questioned by police, he admitted that he attempted to organize a drug deal with his cellular device. Sherburne gave officers permission to look through his phone. Officers observed a contact listed as “Forever my wife” in the phone. When Sherburne was asked about this, he told officers that “Forever my wife” is his girlfriend.

As officers scrolled through text messages between Sherburne and the female he identified as his girlfriend, they found that the conversation began on Jan. 26 and continued through Jan. 29. In the text messages, the female stated she is 14 years old. Sherburne then reportedly asked the female, via text, if she wanted to hook-up. The female responded in the affirmative and told Sherburne where she lived.

Through the text conversation, Sherburne talked about wanting to be there so he can cuddle the female and asked what she’s wearing. He then asked the female to perform acts on herself and imagine that the two of them are being intimate. 

Officers discovered that Sherburne told the female he was in the Army Reserves 11 Bravo Infantry and at a drill in Indianapolis. He reportedly has a military uniform in his possession. Sherburne admitted that he knew the female juvenile was 14 years of age and that he sent a video showing him performing acts on himself to the female in an attempt to persuade the female to send him photographs of herself.

Sherburne further told police that he finds 12 and 13-year-old girls very attractive and that he is attracted more to younger females than to older ones. He also admitted he was not and is not in the military and uses the uniform to benefit himself.  

Sherburne was booked at the Kosciusko County Jail Jan. 30 on a $10,250 surety and cash bond.