Naperville squatter banned from living downtown

Naperville’s most vocal homeless man, Scott Huber, has been permanently banned from living downtown after he was found guilty of violating an ordinance that outlaws squatting in the heart of the city.

DuPage County Judge George Sotos on Thursday granted a permanent injunction aimed at preventing Huber from camping and storing property in downtown Naperville, as he has done for about a decade. Sotos also convicted Huber, 60, of unlawful storing of personal property on a public way or sidewalk and fined him $100, city officials said.

However, Huber still faces a separate misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge stemming from a confrontation with a local psychologist whose business he camped in front of last year. Her office is just outside the city’s designated no-squatting zone. That case is set for a jury trial April 5 in Wheaton.

Thursday’s ruling comes 16 months after Naperville police first cited Huber under an ordinance that was created in 2009 and outlawed sleeping, camping and storing property on public ways downtown. Huber took steps to fight the charge, but failed to appear in court so many times that Sotos eventually let the city present its case without Huber present.

“The city is pleased with the court’s decision,” Assistant City Attorney Mike DiSanto, who prosecuted the case, said Friday. “We received the remedies we sought and, most importantly, we have compliance with the ordinance, which is what we’ve been seeking the whole time.”

Huber has lived on Naperville streets for more than nine years in self-proclaimed protest of what he perceives as wrongdoing by city officials, whom he blames for the loss of his home, business and property.

In court Thursday, attorneys for the city presented evidence collected by a Naperville police officer, who documented Huber living in a makeshift encampment for 35 days between November and December in 2009. Huber could have been fined up to $500 for each day — $17,500 total – but the city sought only $100 because he was declared indigent by the court.

“Our goal has always been compliance, and not necessarily a fine punishment,” DiSanto said.

Huber could not be reached for comment Friday.