Huber jailed in Naperville encampment cases
BY BILL BIRD wbird@stmedianetwork.com December 27, 2012 5:48PM
Scott M. Huber
Updated: January 29, 2013 6:35AM
Naperville’s most recognizable homeless resident has settled in for what could be a rather lengthy stay in DuPage County Jail.
Self-described political protester Scott M. Huber is being held in the jail on a combined bail of $22,250. He was arrested late last week, after allegedly failing to appear in DuPage County Circuit Court to answer charges of camping on a public thoroughfare.
The 62-year-old Huber famously spent eight years living on the sidewalk outside the public parking deck near Chicago Avenue and Washington Street. After city officials enacted a ban on downtown camping, Huber relocated his makeshift home first to the corner of Benton Avenue and Washington Street and later to Ogden and Iroquois avenues.
A Naperville code enforcement official and a police officer on Aug. 10 went to Huber’s latest encampment to warn him he was in violation of a municipal ordinance and state law, a police spokesman said that month. Huber was then arrested twice in September and charged with a total of three misdemeanor counts of camping on a public highway, a violation of the Illinois Highway Code.
Huber was not present in court for recently scheduled hearings on those charges, according to court records. A judge then issued three warrants for his arrest.
Written police records showed Huber was arrested about 10:36 p.m. Dec. 21 at Portillo’s Hot Dogs, at 950 E. Ogden Ave. on Naperville’s northeast side.
Sgt. Lou Cammiso confirmed a police officer who knew Huber was wanted on the warrants approached him after spotting him inside the restaurant. Huber offered no resistance as he was taken into custody, Cammiso said Thursday via e-mail.
Huber has long been a fixture on Naperville’s streets. He contends city officials were responsible for the loss of his electronics business and his subsequent homelessness.
In October 2011, Huber was convicted of misdemeanor charges of criminal trespass to land and disorderly conduct, following a February 2010 confrontation with a neuropsychologist at her practice.
A judge placed him on two years of probation, ordered him to undergo job placement training and secure employment of 10 hours a week. Court records indicated Huber, with his most recent arrest, might now be in violation of the terms of that sentence.
Huber was previously placed on court supervision after being found guilty of a charge of disorderly conduct, stemming from a March 2010 disturbance at a downtown Naperville frozen yogurt shop.
He had also faced trial for allegedly violating six municipal codes, including failure to remove a temporary structure, allowing an obstruction in a parkway to remain and erecting a structure without a permit. Those charges were dismissed late last month, according to court records.
Huber, in a September e-mail to The Sun, said he would be moving his encampment from time to time “so to prevent the camping allegation ...”
“Federal law protects my right to be out here as a protester ... and that is where ... the city is wrong in the present case,” Huber wrote. “The public way is the place where protests and strikes are held.”
Huber, who appeared Wednesday in court, will need to post a cash bond of $2,225 in order to be released from jail. He is scheduled to return Jan. 15 to court.
