Downtown Naperville 'protester' may be moved again
Downtown Naperville squatter Scott Huber soon may be evicted from yet another city sidewalk.
DuPage County Assistant State's Attorney William Stogsdill is asking a judge to order Huber to stay at least 500 feet away from Benton House medical offices, 4 N. Washington St., where he was accused of trespassing earlier this month.
Stogsdill also is asking that Huber avoid contact with a doctor in the office who made the original complaint against him.
Stogsdill said in court documents that Huber has been glaring at the doctor as she goes in and out of the building.
"The nonverbal contact with (the doctor) has resulted (in) serious discomfort ... much stress, trepidation and is harming her ability to treat her patients and practice neuropsychology," he said in the filing.
Huber, 59, denies he has been glaring at the doctor and said he typically keeps his head down and can't see who goes in and out.
"There's been no contact with her verbally since the first of February," Huber said. "There's been no eye contact with her whatsoever."
He believes the doctor wants him to leave his perch on the northeast corner of Washington Street and Benton Avenue. He is now sitting there with a sign calling on passers-by to boycott the doctor.
Huber moved to the Washington Street corner in recent months after city councilmen passed an ordinance banning camping or storing personal property on the public way in downtown. He previously had spent more than eight years at a makeshift shelter on the sidewalk along Chicago Avenue.
Huber does not know where he'll go next if a judge forces him to move again.
"This is a good alternate location," he said. "There's good exposure, plenty of people that come by."
Huber maintains he is not homeless, but protesting injustices by city government.
On Feb. 1, Huber was in front of Benton House when a doctor there asked him to leave. Huber refused, saying he was on public property.
Police say he then followed the doctor into the building shouting her name and banging on the glass door.
Huber said he wanted to tell the woman why he was protesting and denies he shouted at her or banged on the door.
After further investigation, police arrested Huber on Feb. 11 on charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors. He was released within an hour after paying 10 percent of his $2,000 bond.
Huber is now scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning on the latest motions filed by Stogsdill.
Huber is also in the midst of a court hearing for violating the city's ban on camping in the downtown area in November. He is fighting the new ordinance, saying it is unconstitutional. That case continues April 8.