Man gets prison in burglary of Naperville swim club
BY BILL BIRD wbird@stmedianetwork.com March 7, 2013 7:16PM
Philippe A. Ayala, 27, is serving a six-year prison sentence for the 2011 burglary of a private swim club in Naperville and another break-in in the Rockford area. | Courtesy of Illinois Department of Corrections
Updated: April 9, 2013 11:59AM
A man from Aurora has begun serving a six-year prison term after being convicted of two burglaries, including one in which he and a friend wore masks and hoods while breaking into a private swimming club on Naperville’s east side.
Philippe A. Ayala, 27, last lived on the 2100 block of Walcott Road in Aurora. He was transferred late last month from DuPage County Jail in Wheaton to the Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, and will serve a six-year term, according to records.
DuPage County Circuit Court Judge Robert G. Kleeman convicted Ayala of a felony charge of burglary in the Sept. 4, 2011 break-in at the Naperville Tennis & Swim Club, 1011 E. Benton Ave.
Naperville police early that morning arrested Ayala and an associate, Jonathan M. Klimek, now 23. Klimek most recently lived on the 6S400 block of Millcreek Court, in the Huntington area of Naperville’s far east side.
A burglar alarm sounded at the pool and brought police to the scene. They found the club’s rear door had been forced open and saw two hooded, masked subjects inside the building, a police spokesman said in 2011.
Additional officers were called and formed a security perimeter around the club. As they were doing so, “both suspects fled the club in different directions,” the spokesman said.
Klimek and Ayala were captured following brief foot chases. An undisclosed amount of money and property stolen during the break-in was recovered from them.
Eight other swimming and tennis clubs in Naperville had been burglarized between June 14 and July 16, 2011. Police linked Ayala to the July 8-9 break-in at the Farmstead Swim & Racquet Club, at 904 Mill Race Lane, in which $656 was stolen.
Ayala and Klimek were charged only in the Naperville Tennis & Swim Club crime. The other break-ins netted the burglar or burglars an estimated total of $1,425 and $50 worth of liquor, the spokesman said.
Prison records indicated Ayala is serving a concurrent, five-year term for a 2007 burglary he committed in upstate Winnebago County.
Klimek on May 22 pleaded guilty to a felony charge of burglary. Court records showed Kleeman that day sentenced him to 30 days in jail and placed him on two years of probation.
Additionally, Klimek faces trial in a February 2011 DuPage County Sheriff’s Office misdemeanor case of criminal sexual abuse of a victim between the ages of 13 and 16. He is scheduled to appear April 3 in court in that matter.
