Judge rules Farquer case can proceed

By NICK VLAHOS
For The Weekly Post

ALEDO – The official-misconduct case against the former Williamsfield school superintendent will continue, but not for another couple of months.

Mercer County Circuit Court Judge Matthew Durbin rejected arguments from defense attorneys and ruled probable cause exists to proceed with the prosecution of Tim Farquer. The Mercer County School District superintendent is accused of accessing student health records inappropriately.

“I would remind that this is a preliminary hearing, and the burden (of proof) is as low as it can go,” Durbin said Nov. 14 in court. “I will find for probable cause, and that Mr. Farquer was at least a part of it.”
During the conclusion of a preliminary hearing that began Oct. 20, Farquer pleaded not guilty and requested a jury trial. He is to appear in court again at 9 a.m. Jan. 15.

Farquer’s attorneys filed various motions to be heard then. Those and possible testimonies from witnesses probably will require an all-day hearing, according to Durbin.

The official-misconduct charge against Farquer is a felony, punishable by two to five years in state prison. He also is accused of two misdemeanors – unauthorized access to medical records and computer tampering.

One of Farquer’s attorneys, Douglas Scovil of Rock Island, argued last month that medical records are part of a student’s overall school record, consistent with state law.

Farquer, 53, was in the courtroom last week, clad in a dark business suit, but did not speak publicly. Scovil sat beside Farquer, as did two attorneys from the Chicago area, Lindsey Lusk and Joseph McMahon.

A former Kane County state’s attorney, McMahon was special prosecutor in a 2016 Chicago murder case that attracted national attention. Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was convicted of shooting to death Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old boy, during a confrontation in 2014.

There were eight local school superintendents who attended the hearing in support of Farquer, according to WRMJ-FM in Aledo. The radio station did not identify them by name.

Farquer is on paid administrative leave from the Mercer County district. He and two other school-district employees were arrested in September. Farquer was accused of ordering a district employee to divulge student health and vaccination information regarding an outbreak of hand-foot-and-mouth disease.

Contentious emails about that information were sent between Farquer and Amber Wood, a school-district nurse, according to KWQC-TV in Davenport, Iowa. KWQC obtained the emails through an Illinois Freedom of Information Act request. Wood was reluctant to release the student health information, the emails stated.

“Since it is often not diagnosed until the rash appears – and by that point the student is often cleared to return to school – it’s unclear how helpful this data is for proactive health measures,” Wood wrote, according to KWQC.

Eventually, Farquer told Wood his request was an order.

“This is my third email on this topic. Please consider this a directive,” Farquer wrote Sept. 17.
“Assemble and share a spreadsheet of our HS Hand, Foot and Mouth cases including date confirmed, name, grade, address, phone, primary contact, known school activities, whether or not they are a bus rider, & anything of relevance. Share that with me by noon (Sept. 19).”

In another email KWQC obtained, also dated Sept. 17, Farquer told Mercer County School Board members this was the third issue he had with Wood since May. Farquer stated Wood emailed board members to tell them his request was unreasonable. Farquer also suggested Wood was deceptive.

“In short, Amber doesn’t like it when I ask her to do something,” Farquer wrote. In an email the following day to School Board President Bill Smock, Farquer wrote: “She’s an interesting one.”
Wood has not been accused of any crimes.

The other defendants, Mercer County information-technology workers Andrea Long and Amberly Norton, have pleaded not guilty to the same charges as Farquer. Pre-trial hearings for Long and Norton are scheduled for January.