Angel Farmer said Tuesday she is a “civil rights activist” and was not the aggressor in a Monday incident that injured a La Salle County court security officer.

Farmer, 29, of Peru, is out of custody and, as of press time Tuesday, still awaiting formal charges in La Salle County Circuit Court. Authorities booked her on preliminary charges of obstructing a peace officer and battery.

She posts videos recorded from her cellphone on a YouTube page, referring to herself as the Accountability Angel.

“Are you aware that they were violating my civil rights?” Farmer said, standing on her porch Tuesday morning. She added later, “I have every right to stand my ground and not move a muscle.”

Farmer said she was “battered” and “unlawfully restrained” while attempting to enter the county’s Criminal Justice Center and that key details were misreported in the various articles and broadcasts since her Monday arrest.

She said her phone was confiscated and that she was released without posting cash bond. (Jail records show bond set at $1,500 but no indication of payment.) Primarily, she disputed the police characterization that she was noncompliant or initiated contact with court security or her arresting officers. She declined to discuss whether she had retained an attorney.

Also taken into custody was 28-year-old Jacob Farmer, of Morris, Angel’s brother, who faces a preliminary charge of obstructing a peace officer but not battery. He returned a telephone message and issued a statement.

“Basically, the events that have transpired over the past five months have shown repeated efforts by the La Salle County Sheriff’s Office to deprive citizens of their constitutional rights,” Jacob Farmer said, “and we are attempting to expose the corruption based on the circumstances that have happened over the past several days.”

But La Salle County authorities were adamant Tuesday that the Farmers were responsible for the melee and that both engaged in a series of confrontations that had become problematic even before Monday’s incident.

La Salle County Sheriff Tom Templeton said he’s reached out to the Illinois Sheriff’s Association to see what other agencies were subject to the Farmers’ video-recorded “audits” to see whether additional charges are warranted.

Templeton said his officers had been accommodating to the Farmers, but their various demands and resistance to infection controls and security protocols finally created a disruptive environment. He recalled an instance where a man entered lawfully but, spooked by a nearby Farmer confrontation, left his cellphone number with courthouse staff so he could be contacted later and then made for the exit.

“The disruptions have gotten to the point that we can no longer accept that conduct as lawful,” Templeton said. “Citizens, staff and the judges that come in here all have the right to function in a manner where there is decorum and security, and we’re going to provide that. Enough is enough.”

La Salle County isn’t the only jurisdiction subject to “audits,” the term Angel Farmer has used when she, with camera rolling, enters public buildings to ascertain security features, collect Freedom of Information Act forms and generally assess public access. Her footage has been uploaded to YouTube under the heading of “Accountability Angel.” Videos still on file show “audits” in Putnam, Bureau, Whiteside, Lee, Sangamon and Whiteside counties.

Locally, police chiefs report encounters with Angel Farmer dating back to autumn 2020. While not every agency was rankled – Peru Police Chief Doug Bernabei reported “no issues” – one chief reported having to draw the line.

La Salle Police Chief Mike Smudzinski said he or his officers responded to three incidents, none of which resulted in charges by his office. Most memorable was last fall when Angel Farmer tried to film the city clerk’s office – “alarming” some of the workers, he said – and then the La Salle police station.

Smudzinski said he inquired of her activities. Told she was conducting an audit, Smudzinski asked for whom.

“She told me that was her First Amendment right, and she didn’t have to tell me,” Smudzinski said. He invited her into the common areas but not the offices or restricted areas, and Farmer completed her taping without incident.

Oglesby Police Chief Doug Hayse recalled that Angel Farmer “videotaped our lobby” and then filmed the exterior, complaining of a little-used stairway in the rear.

“She came back and said it wasn’t very secure and it wasn’t a good idea to have that open to the public,” Hayse said.

La Salle police responded to two more incidents at the Illinois Veterans Home at La Salle on Dec. 22 and Jan. 2, with staff reporting “belligerent” activity and that the Farmers refused to leave.

Farmer also has recorded a trip to the Ottawa Police Department where she attempted to record from the lobby through the window where dispatchers were seated and the dispatcher put up paper to block her view. Additionally, an officer greeted her and asks what he can help her with, and she said, “Nothing.”

None of the visits produced any La Salle County charges, at least until Monday.