Two 21-year-old Aurora men have been charged with burglarizing and causing damage to a Far West Side school in the early morning hours of Dec. 31.
Shawn Lopez of the 200 block of LRA Drive and Avery Payne of the 500 block of Manor Place have been charged with burglary to a school in connection with the burglary at Aurora Christian School, 2255 W. Sullivan Road.
Lopez was also charged with criminal damage to a school. All of the charges are felonies.
Police latched on to the men after surveillance stills were posted Tuesday morning on the Aurora Police Department’s Facebook page, along with an appeal to the community for assistance in identifying the pair. Within hours, someone recognized the alleged burglars and contacted Aurora Area Crime Stoppers with their identities, police said.
Aurora police investigators with assistance from the department’s Community Oriented Policing officers, took Lopez and Payne into custody at around 5:50 p.m. Tuesday without incident at Payne’s home.
Police said they recovered a stolen laptop computer, charger, mouse, two pairs of athletic shoes, and a pair of basketball shorts that were allegedly taken in the burglary, which occurred at about 12:40 a.m. Dec. 31.
In addition to the stolen items, a smashed interior window, pry damage to two steel doors, and other damage was located at the school. Police said that Lopez and Payne probably gained entry to the school through a door that had inadvertently been left open earlier in the day. The total loss was set at $3,235.