A Greene County man is behind bars in Peoria County for allegedly using a messaging app to communicate with minors.
WEEK in Peoria and the Greene Prairie Press report that 66-year old Gary Sherwin of Roodhouse was arrested by members of the Chillicothe Police Department and Marshall County Sheriff’s Office, along with members of the CHAOS Task Force on Wednesday, March 6th after allegedly making arrangements to meet up for sex through a messaging application on the Internet with two minors.
According to the WEEK report, during the course of a 3-day investigation, law enforcement discovered that Sherwin had sent nude photographs of himself through the Kik messaging app to a person he believed was a minor female, but was actually an undercover police officer.
Sherwin was booked into the Peoria County Jail on 2 counts of indecent exploitation of a child, 2 counts of indecent solicitation of a child, 2 counts of distributing harmful materials to minors, one count of solicitation to meet a child, one count of traveling to meet a minor, and one count of grooming.
According to court records, Sherwin was officially charged with just one count of indecent solicitation of a child, a Class 4 felony on Thursday. He was also ordered detained by the local circuit court until his arraignment on May 5th.
If convicted, Sherwin faces up to 1 to 3 years in prison and a fine up to $25,000. The offense is probationable, with a probable sentence of up to 30 months.