Kane County prosecutors try again to lock up man, 84, accused of abusing minors

Kane County prosecutors are asking a judge to reverse himself and jail an elderly man accused of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of minors, instead of allowing him to remain on electronic home monitoring pretrial.

And if they are not successful in keeping Michael J. Farris, 84, of Montgomery held physically in jail instead of on electronic home monitoring, prosecutors are expected to seek a reversal from the Second District Appellate Court in Elgin, court records show. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for June 26 in Kane County court.

Farris was indicted April 23 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, for a total of 129 counts, court records show.

On Feb. 27, Kane County Associate Judge Salvatore LoPiccolo remanded Farris to the Kane County jail.

When Farris was first arrested, according to a news release from the State’s Attorney’s Office, he “was involved in organizations such as train club and the Boy Scouts of America.”

In a statement to ABC7 Chicago news, Scouting America said it had ended Farris’s involvement with its organization following his arrest.

“Farris has been banned from Scouting and will no longer be permitted to register or participate in Scouting America in any capacity. He was last registered in Scouting in 2000,” according to the statement.

On March 24, Circuit Judge John Barsanti ruled that Farris could be released on electronic home monitoring.

Prosecutors were successful in a May 1 hearing when they asked to have Farris held in the jail.

The following week, on May 7, Barsanti reversed himself and returned Farris to electronic home monitoring, setting the same conditions as before: that Farris have no contact with those he’s accused of abusing or with anyone under age 18, that he not use the internet, and that he can only leave home for doctor appointments and court.

The next day, May 8, Assistant State’s Attorney Lori Schmidt filed an appeal to the Second District Appellate Court in Elgin, seeking a reversal. Both sides then agreed to dismiss the appeal until after the results of the June 26 hearing, records show.

As part of the Pretrial Fairness Act, prosecutors must appeal a ruling to the circuit court judge – and lose – before they can bring it to the appellate court, officials said in an email.

In a May 13 filing, Schmidt wrote that “the defendant has a history of violent, abusive, or assaultive behavior as these are sex offenses.”

“That the offenses occurred between 2008 and 2022″ makes Farris “a real and present threat to the community,” according to the filing.

Schmidt asserted that electronic home monitoring – even with all the pretrial release conditions – cannot monitor who comes into his home.

Evidence presented by prosecutors “showed that one of the charged victims met the defendant when he had come to the defendant’s home when he was 15 years old to shovel snow and the defendant lured him into his home and sexually abused him,” according to Schmidt’s filing.

But a March 10 filing from Assistant Public Defender Marie Henning asserted: “The State failed to meet its burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that there was real and present threat to the community.”

Later, during the May 7 hearing, Assistant Public Defender Seth McClure argued that Farris did not violate any of the terms of his home confinement.

“He has complied with every single condition that your honor put in place,” McClure said then.