An elderly Montgomery man charged with sexually assaulting minors got something of a reprieve in court Jan. 7, as his case was continued to March 4 for hearings on two defense motions.

According to a joint news release from State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser and Montgomery police when he was arrested Feb. 25, 2025, Michael G. Farris, 85, was accused of committing acts of sexual penetration and contact with five victims between the ages of 13 and 17 from Jan. 20, 2008 and July 30, 2022.

Farris was indicted last April on 106 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and 23 counts of criminal sexual assault of five minors between the ages of 13 and 17 from 2008 to 2022, court records show.

Farris’s Jan. 7 court hearing was supposed to be for setting a date either for a plea or a trial, records show.

But Farris’s attorney, Seth McClure, filed court papers seeking expanded discovery and a bill of particulars, for which Circuit Judge John Barsanti set March 4 as a hearing date on both motions.

Discovery is a pretrial process where both sides exchange information, evidence and documents. In Illinois law, a bill of particulars means a defendant is seeking specific details about the charges against him, such as specific times, dates, places an alleged act occurred.

Court records show McClure filed court papers for last February. Prosecutors responded with discovery disclosure in September, court records show.

McClure confirmed for Barsanti in October that he had received the last of discovery the day before, and asked for 30 days to complete his review of the information, which the judge granted.

Farris is on electronic home monitoring with restrictions in that he cannot have access to the internet and that he not have contact with anyone under age 18. Farris much also check with probation officials before leaving home for doctor appointments, documents show.

Prosecutors had fought to have Farris held in jail instead of pretrial release on electronic home monitoring, asserting that he was a danger to minors, even in his frail physical state.

Prosecutors appealed Barsanti’s decision to allow pretrial release on home monitoring for Farris. But on Oct. 7, the Second District Appellate Court in Elgin ruled 2-1 to allow Farris to continue pretrial release while on home monitoring.

The court majority agreed with Barsanti that the state did not meet its burden of proving Farris posed a real and present danger to the community, records show.