The men who wore masks and recorded people outside of a Havre de Grace post office last October avoided conviction on harassment, disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct charges in Harford County District Court on Tuesday.

The men, who call themselves “First Amendment auditors,” had their cases shelved indefinitely on the stet docket. A “stet” is a Latin term meaning “let it stand” and is used in Maryland criminal cases as indefinite postponement of prosecution; the charges remain on file but are inactive. A stet is not a conviction, guilty plea, acquittal or dismissal.

Logan Patek, 19, of Aberdeen, runs a YouTube page and social media accounts under the name “Freedom Frontier,” where he posts cut-up videos from his First Amendment auditing, including the most eruptive interactions. Patek said his page isn’t monetized and is only for “educational purposes.”

Patek is sometimes accompanied by Mikael Hill, 22, of Bel Air, and Garrison Ingram, 20, of Bel Air, who were also charged and had their cases shelved Tuesday.

Patek said the case result “feels good” and will hopefully lead people to reconsider what he’s been doing.

“Some people that saw me doing what I was doing were so confident that I was doing something wrong,” Patek said to The Aegis on Tuesday morning. “They might be second-guessing themselves now, and maybe that’ll trigger them to do more research and actually respect the First Amendment.”

The men said their efforts were a “stress test” of the amendment to see how government employees, police and everyday people react to a camera in their face.

“As Americans, we have to fight for our rights, or we lose them. That’s how it is, so if we don’t fight for our First Amendment rights, they’ll get ripped from us,” Patek said. “I’m not there to be a bother. I’m just there to express and teach others.”

The criminal charges followed at least 35 complaints to Havre de Grace Police from post office patrons involving the three men during a Saturday in October. The three men stood outside the post office from the time it opened until it closed, donning face coverings and sunglasses and taking videos of people.

In the videos, some people questioned the auditors, while others flipped them off or called them “idiots.” Many pulled out their own phones and started filming the auditors. In one heated confrontation, a man said, “All you’re doing is making people uncomfortable.”

Havre de Grace Police Chief Jonathan Krass previously told The Aegis that encounters with these men are nothing new for public employees, who have dealt with them in the past. Police originally said the men weren’t violating any laws and posted a list of best practices when encountering First Amendment auditors.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service wrote in a statement to The Aegis: “The U.S. Postal Service respects customers’ rights to peacefully express their opinions.”

However, two especially explosive encounters led police to charge the men on Oct. 29 with disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct and harassment, according to court records.

In one encounter, the auditors surrounded a car, whose driver felt so threatened he raced away from the post office, and the men allegedly scratched his car. In the other, the men impeded a couple from entering the post office, and they had to be escorted behind the counter and out the back door.

“I would apologize to those who did feel threatened by me and harassed, because that’s not my intentions out here to go out and seek harassment from people,” Patek said. “I love this community. I’ve been here my whole life. I’m not in any shape or form hating on the community.”

The one condition of the case being shelved was for the auditors to remain law-abiding citizens. Patek said he was taking a break from posting on the “Freedom Frontier” channel because he has “bigger things ahead of him.”

“Regardless to the case at the moment, I am taking a break not because I am deemed to be a law-abiding citizen, because what I’m doing is not illegal at all,” Patek said. “I want to focus on life.”

Have a news tip? Contact Brendan Nordstrom at bnordstrom@baltsun.com or at 443-900-1353.