Two Mercer County School District IT workers facing charges of illegally accessing students’ medical records will return to court next month.
In their first court appearance since Mercer County School District Superintendent Tim Farquer was acquitted of all criminal charges two weeks ago, Amberly Norton and Andrea Long had their respective pretrial conferences continued to Sept. 14.
Norton and Long were arrested last September, along with Farquer, following an Aledo Police Department investigation into a complaint accusing Mercer County School District employees of illegally accessing students’ medical records. Norton and Long are accused of committing the alleged offenses beginning in July 2019.
Norton and Long are each charged with a Class 3 felony of official misconduct and Class A misdemeanors of unauthorized access to medical records and computer tampering. Both remain on paid administrative leave from their positions with the Mercer County School District.
Farquer also remains on paid administrative leave. WRMJ reached out to the Mercer County School District for an update on Farquer’s status after he was found not guilty and received the following response from Deputy Superintendent Stacey Day: “I will be working with our District legal counsel and the Board of Education to determine what the next steps will be for the school district over the coming days. We will send a follow-up statement when we have more details.”