Mercer County School District Superintendent Tim Faruqer will return to court for another motion hearing next month.
Farquer appeared in Mercer County Circuit Court on Thursday, where his defense team filed a motion to reconsider the finding of probable cause in the case from a preliminary hearing in November. After hearing arguments from the defense and Mercer County State’s Attorney Grace Simpson, Judge Matthew Durbin upheld the previous ruling and found that probable cause had been found for the case to continue.
Farquer’s next court date is Feb. 5.
Farquer was arrested in September, along with Mercer County School District IT workers Amberly Norton and Andrea Long, following an Aledo Police Department investigation into a complaint accusing Mercer County School District employees of illegally accessing students’ medical records. Farquer, Long and Norton have all pleaded not guilty to all charges. All three are charged with a Class 3 felony of official misconduct, and Class A misdemeanors of unauthorized access to medical records and computer tampering.
Farquer remains on paid administrative leave by the school district.
Norton will appear in court on Tuesday. Long is scheduled to return to court on March 2.