Former Cop Pleads Guilty To Setting Huber Tent On Fire

NAPERVILLE, IL — A retired Chicago police officer was required to pay back a well-known Naperville homeless man for burning down his tent last July. Pleading guilty Wednesday, 73-year-old James Povolo of Naperville said he used an auto flare gun to burn down a tent in which Scott Huber, 66, lived.

According to the Naperville Sun, Povolo reimbursed Huber with a $5,000 cashier’s check. He was also sentenced to probation and five days with a work program.

Huber lived in the tent for the past 16 years, the Sun article noted. Originally, he was posted up in front of the central parking garage in Downtown Naperville. When the tent burned down, it was at the corner of Ogden Avenue and Naper Boulevard. Huber was not in the tent at the time.

A Chicago police sergeant who served from 1972 to 2006, Povolo turned himself in days after the event. The Sun reported that Huber’s attorney said he “just snapped” out of frustration after seeing the tent for so long.

Image: James Povolo, courtesy of Naperville Police Department

Editor's note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly spelled Scott Huber's name. Patch apologizes for the error.