A Chicago man has pleaded guilty to ten felonies after prosecutors said he built a criminal financial enterprise by burglarizing locker rooms at North Side gyms. But all ten sentences will be served concurrently, so Hector Roman will be out of prison in time to celebrate Christmas at home next year.
Prosecutors say Roman, 20, took wallets and car keys when he broke into lockers at XSport, LA Fitness, Planet Fitness and other facilities between May and October 2019. He also stole property from vehicles on the gym’s parking lot after he used stolen keys to open the cars, according to allegations in court records. Then, Roman used the credit cards to make purchases worth hundreds of dollars at stores.
Gym patrons were targeted as they worked out in facilities stretching from Boystown to Lincoln Square to Edgewater to the north suburbs, prosecutors alleged. A grand jury eventually charged Roman with dozens of felonies in connection with the scheme.
His master plan came to an abrupt end after police pulled him over in the 500 block of West Belmont because the car he was driving had been reported stolen, according to a CPD report. Not coincidentally, the stolen car’s keys were taken from a gym locker while its owner worked out, according to court records.
Many of the burglaries took place after Roman went missing while on bail for burglarizing another gym locker earlier in 2019, records show.
Roman pleaded guilty to seven counts of burglary and three counts of identity theft in a deal with prosecutors, who dropped all other charges. Judge Aleksandra Gillespie sentenced him to four years on one burglary charge and three years on each of the other counts.
He will serve the sentences concurrently. According to Illinois Department of Corrections records, with 166 days credit for time spent in jail after his arrest and a 50% credit for good behavior, Roman will be paroled on December 2, 2021.
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