Man is sentenced to jail for through-the-ceiling burglary
BY BILL BIRD wbird@stmedianetwork.com December 27, 2012 8:40PM
Jerrod J. Lewis, 20, is in DuPage County Jail, awaiting trial on felony residential burglary charges. He is accused of breaking into a woman's apartment in Naperville via the ceiling and stealing a jar containing $51 in coins. | Courtesy of the DuPage County Sheriff's Office
Updated: January 29, 2013 6:43AM
The first of two men charged with burglarizing a Naperville apartment last summer after dropping through its ceiling has been sentenced to jail.
Jerrod J. Lewis, 20, of Skokie, pleaded guilty in DuPage County Circuit Court to a felony charge of burglary in a crime police said netted him and an accomplice less than $51.
Judge Robert G. Kleeman on Dec. 19 sentenced Lewis to six months in DuPage County Jail, followed by two years of probation, according to court records. Lewis had been in the jail since being arrested, and with day-for-day credit for good behavior, has already completed his term.
Naperville police on Sept. 11 arrested Lewis and a friend, Elonta Y. McDowell, several hours after they broke into an apartment on the 800 block of Benedetti Drive. The apartment is in the Windscape Village complex west of Naperville North High School.
Police discovered the apartment had been entered through its drywall ceiling. A police spokesman in September said the burglars got into an overhead crawl space in another part of the building and then dropped into the apartment.
The tenant told police all that appeared to have been stolen was a small plastic jug filled with coins. The tenant gave police a description of the jug and the change it contained.
Police during a neighborhood canvass found a witness who said he saw a man carrying such a jug. The man sought directions to the Jewel-Osco store northeast of Ogden Avenue and Washington Street, which the witness said he provided.
The spokesman said police went to the store and spoke to a manager, who confirmed a man had used a machine that counts and sorts coins and lets customers trade them for paper money. The suspect was given $50.95.
Further investigation led police to the 300 block of West Ogden Avenue, where Lewis and McDowell were found talking to another man, the spokesman said. McDowell and Lewis were quickly taken into custody and charged with the burglary.
McDowell, 18, of Bolingbrook, remains in jail and is scheduled to appear Jan. 31 in court.
He is also awaiting trial for a burglary he allegedly committed five months ago in Bolingbrook. Will County court records indicated Bolingbrook police on April 6 arrested him on charges of burglary and theft.
