Community Corner

Ex-Wheaton North Teacher Edwin Klemm Enters Prison System

The former English teacher's new home is a cell as of July 5. He pled guilty to criminal sexual assault of a student under 18 and is now labeled a predator.

A former English teacher at Wheaton North High School formally began the first part of his 10-year prison sentence on Friday, according to state records.

Edwin Klemm, 43, formerly of St. Charles, was admitted July 5 to the state's Northern Reception and Classification Center in Joliet, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Klemm is in reception status, meaning he will stay at the Center until he is transferred to a permanent place in one of the state prisons. The average length of stay in reception is three weeks to two months, according to the Center's web page.

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Klemm pled guilty to two counts of criminal sexual assault on June 26 and received a five-year prison sentence for each count. Klemm in March admitted to having ongoing sexual contact in 2011 with a 16-year-old girl who was a Wheaton North student at the time, prosecutors said. She turned 17 during the course of the encounters.

Klemm will be required to serve 85 percent of his sentence before being eligible for parole. He earned 100 days credit for time served so far in the DuPage County Jail, according to the State's Attorney's Office.

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Klemm is now also listed in the Illinois Sex Offender Registry as a sexual predator. This term refers to anyone convicted after July 1, 1999 of certain violations in the Criminal Code of 1961, including criminal sexual assault regardless of the victim's age. Sexual predators are required to register for their entire lives, according to the Illinois Sex Offender Information website.

The girl ended the sexual relationship with Klemm in December 2011, but it did not come to light until earlier this year when her parents found a love letter that Klemm wrote to her, DuPage County prosecutors said.

Klemm had several sexual encounters with the girl throughout 2011, including at Wheaton North and on at least one occasion, at his house while his daughter was home. The incidents included vaginal sex, masturbation and other acts, prosecutors said.

Klemm first pled not guilty on April 12 during his arraignment but later entered a guilty plea on June 26 as part of a deal with prosecutors. The agreement included nine of the counts against him being dismissed and his resignation from his 13-year teaching position at Wheaton North.


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