Huber responds: 'I'm the victim'

Scott Huber has been arrested and sued, but Naperville's infamous downtown squatter insists he is the victim.

Huber, 59, has lived on Naperville streets for more than nine years in a self-proclaimed protest to denounce perceived injustices by city officials, whom he blames for the loss of his home, business and personal property.

After the city passed a ban last fall on camping in the downtown area, largely in response to Huber's presence, he moved to the corner of Washington Street and Benton Avenue outside clinical psychologist Katherine Borchardt's medical office.

She sued Huber earlier in March after the two had a well-publicized Feb. 1 dispute in which the squatter is accused of disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing. Most recently, Borchardt wrote a detailed letter to the media bemoaning what she described as Huber's continued harassment, and a failure by police and prosecutors to protect her rights.

Huber denied allegations in the letter and said it is he who is the victim.

"It's a smoothly written, subjective hodgepodge of misinformation and manipulative facts," Huber said. "There is collusion between her and the city just to make my existence as difficult as possible to get rid of me. They want me gone because I'm an embarrassment to them."

In her lawsuit, Borchardt is seeking more than $50,000 in damages. She accuses Huber of assault, trespassing, defamation and invasion of privacy while committing "extreme and outrageous conduct such that no person should be expected to endure it."

The two began battling Feb. 1 after the psychologist asked Huber to relocate so as to not upset her patients, some of whom she said include children with special needs. Borchardt said she called 911 while "cowering on the floor," after an irate Huber forced his way into the building's locked exterior door and began banging on one leading into her office while demanding entry.

Huber was arrested on the misdemeanors and, as a condition of bond, is barred from coming within 500 feet of Borchardt. Huber said he's moved his protest to Washington Street and North Avenue and continues to display a sign urging a boycott of Borchardt's medical practice. He's also penned Internet posts accusing her of conspiring with police to falsify evidence and, in another statement, called her a discipline of Satan.

Huber admits he entered the medical office that day to obtain Borchardt's name after their dispute, but he denies becoming irate.

"That's baloney sausage," he said. "The only time I ever saw the woman was that day. I'm not even sure I'd recognize her. I'm not harassing her or anyone. I have a lot of supporters who help me. She is just trying to affect donations so I can't continue my fight."

Because of the 500-feet rule, Huber said he no longer can use a nearby post office and public washroom. Huber pleaded not guilty and is due back in court Oct. 5. Two days later, he is scheduled to appear in traffic court on accusations he violated the city's new ordinance. The city obtained a preliminary injunction against Huber from keeping his carts of belongings downtown.

But Borchardt is not the only downtown shopkeeper to complain about Huber's antics. He was placed on one-year court supervision June 28 after pleading guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct for becoming verbally abusive March 12 to a female employee at a downtown yogurt restaurant after she informed Huber it was closing time.

Still, Huber insists he is wrongly accused.

"I'm the victim," he said of his critics. "They won't be happy until they drive me nuts so they can put me in an institution and straitjacket and drug me. It's a frame-up. It's a hit."

City Manager Doug Krieger declined to respond to Borchardt's letter.