Fitness trainer arraigned on sex abuse charges involving teen
A former personal trainer pleaded not guilty Monday to charges he sexually abused a Naperville teen in the hot tub at a Warrenville fitness center, among other locations.
Robert Theodore, 60, of the 3800 block of Hagen Court in Woodridge, was formally arraigned on five counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. A DuPage County grand jury indicted him last week.
Judge Blanche Hill Fawell said Theodore could face up to seven years in prison if convicted. The defendant appeared with defense attorney Tim Martin, who has said Theodore expects to be “fully exonerated.”
Theodore, a former track coach at Lisle High School, was arrested last month on charges stemming from his more recent job as a trainer at Life Time Fitness, 28141 Diehl Road.
Prosecutors allege he inappropriately touched a male client on several occasions when the boy was between the ages of 16 and 18. According to court records, the alleged contact happened at the teen’s home and Theodore’s home, and in the hot tub at Life Time Fitness, between September 2007 and September 2009.
Charges were filed after a months-long investigation that began when the family of another Naperville boy came forward with concerns about possible inappropriate contact, prosecutors have said.
Theodore pleaded guilty in the 1980s to the attempted molestation of a 12-year-old boy he met through a youth mentoring program in Arizona, according to prosecutors. He later worked as a track coach at Lisle High School but was fired amid complaints about his interaction with students, prosecutors said.
Theodore, who now works for a wealth management firm in Naperville, is free on a $25,000 bond and scheduled to return to court Nov. 20.