Judge orders Naperville 'protester' to stay away from medical offices
Scott Huber will have to find a new protest site.
A DuPage County judge Wednesday ordered the downtown Naperville squatter to stay 500 feet away from Benton House medical offices at 4 N. Washington St. and to have no contact with a doctor working there.
Huber, 59, is in the midst of a court hearing on charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct at the office, stemming from a Feb. 1 incident.
He has been living on Naperville streets for more than eight years. He says he is not homeless but is a protester denouncing injustices by city government.
After the city passed a ban last fall on camping in the downtown area, he moved his protest site to the corner of Washington Street and Benton Avenue outside the medical office.
On Feb. 1, a doctor there asked him to leave but he refused. Prosecutor John Botti on Wednesday told Associate Judge Karen M. Wilson that Huber followed the doctor into the office shouting her name and banging on a glass door.
He was arrested Feb. 11 and spent less than an hour in jail before paying 10 percent of his $2,000 bond. Last week, prosecutors asked that as a condition of his bond he keep away from the office and the doctor.
Botti said Wednesday Huber has been glaring at the doctor and she is "in fear for her safety," now using a police escort when entering and exiting the building.
Botti also took issue with Huber making Internet posts about the doctor and sitting outside her office with a sign calling on people to boycott her. He said Huber's actions constitute harassment of a witness, a Class 3 felony.
Huber has denied the allegations in the Feb. 1 incident and says he has not had any verbal or eye contact with the doctor since that time.
Dana Fortunato, the public defender representing Huber, told the judge Wednesday that Huber's actions have been passive and he has a right to express his opinions.
Wilson ultimately granted Botti's request. She ordered Huber to stay 500 feet away from Benton House and to have no contact with the doctor.
"The allegations, if true, are aggravating," Wilson said.
She told Huber if he violates the order she will revoke or increase his bond. If Botti feels there is witness harassment, she said, he can file charges accordingly.
Huber told the judge he understood her orders but objects. She told him she will hear his arguments as the case proceeds.
Following the hearing, he called Wilson's ruling "unfair and totally excessive."
Huber is due back in court in April to answer to the trespassing and disorderly conduct charges.