Aurora man charged with theft from church

An Aurora man was charged with theft after police say he stole metal pieces from a church and sold them to a nearby scrapyard.

A church in the 700 block of North High Street reported the theft of numerous metal pieces taken during regular a regular mass Dec. 13 and a holiday mass Dec. 26.

Police were able to track down the metal pieces at a nearby recycling center on Broadway Avenue.

Terry Ayala, 48, of the 600 block of Woodlawn Avenue, was arrested near the recycling center on Dec. 26 and charged with two counts of felony burglary to a place of worship and unlawful use of a credit card. He was also wanted on another outstanding warrant for obstructing identification.

In the course of this investigation, police say they discovered that in September Ayala took cash and an ATM card from another Aurora church in the 500 block of south Fourth Street and later used the ATM card to take money from a church account.

Ayala remains in the Kane County Justice Center on a $105,750 bond.