Joliet Thief Claimed He Was Dying Of Cancer: Complaint

JOLIET, IL — A 29-year-old Shorewood man accused of stealing of $95,000 worth of "smart" thermostats from Joliet's G&D Integrated warehouse, 3300 Corporate Drive, also may lose his 2012 Volkswagen Jetta as a forfeited police asset. On May 1, Nicholas Bain was charged with burglary and theft after being arrested by Joliet Police.

Now, a Will County judge must decide whether to declare Bain's car a forfeited police asset. The matter is scheduled for 9 a.m. Sept. 11. Court records indicate that Bain approached several area pawn shops with phony invoices as he was trying to sell large quantities of smart thermostats, claiming he had cancer and was in the process of dying.

According to the forfeiture complaint, Joliet Police Officer Arthur Arellano met with G&D Integrated's business operations manager in April. The Joliet company is the North American distribution center for Warmup Digital Smart Wifi Thermostats.

The manager explained that back on April 2, he and another employee had loaded a pallet of digital thermostats that were returned to the manufacturer. The pair shrink-wrapped the boxes, put the pallet into their building's quarantine area, and left for the day, court records show.

The next day, the business manager told Joliet Police, "he noticed the shrink-wrap had been removed from the pallet and several boxes were missing."

The manager and the G&D Integrated employee checked all of their doors and found no damage; the missing boxes could not found.

"It was learned by Officer Arellano that G&D Integrated subleases some of their warehouse space to Dynamic 3PL, which distributes Fiji water," the forfeiture document explains.

Joliet Police realized there were no walls separating the two companies' products, just plastic orange fencing. Meanwhile, back on April 3, G&D Integrated also realized about $7,500 worth of Monsoon Blue merchandise went missing: queen size mattresses, end tables and console tables, the complaint notes.

As the investigation unfolded, Joliet Police Officer Cris Gombosi met with several area pawn stores: Sterling & Knights Jewelry & Pawn in Joliet and Hinsdale, RJ Jewelry & Loan in Oakbrook Terrace and Glendale Heights, and Convert to Cash in Hoffman Estates.

The pawn stores remembered that Bain had visited them and claimed to be the owner "of a store that stocked a large amount of Warmup Thermostats and accessories, but whose store was being closed due to having cancer and dying from the disease," court documents state. "At each place of business, Nicholas Bain presented a driver's license that identified him as Nicholas Bain and whose picture on the license was the same person stating that he was Nicholas Bain."

On April 30, Joliet Police interviewed Bain at the Joliet Police Station. Bain told Joliet Police he worked through the Priority Temp agency at G&D Integrated from Oct. 22, 2018 through Jan. 16, 2019 and during that period Bain stole $40,000 to $50,000 worth of Warmup Thermostats and sold them to his friend, Zachary Zeiter, the forfeiture complaint reveals.

Zeiter, a 31-year-old Minooka resident, was incarcerated in the Will County Jail back in January 2018 on unrelated 2015 criminal charges of possession of controlled substances and driving under the influence of drugs, jail logs show.

"Bain reported that Zeiter was supposed to give him $10,000 for the Warmup products that he stole for him, but instead Bain received $500 and three bags of cannabis," the forfeiture complaint reads.

On January 16, G&D Integrated fired Bain and "he was upset that he lost his job, so he broke into the warehouse on approximately (five or six) occasions and stole a large number of Warmup Thermostats and accessories," court documents state. "Bain reported he would come in after hours through the overhead dock door marked No. 8 by pushing down on the dock loading ramp which would give him about 8 inches under the closed overhead door to reach under with a rake that he brought from home."

During the theft and burglary, Bain used his 2012 Volkswagen Jetta to transport his stolen merchandise, court documents note.

According to Joliet Police, Bain used an app called "Invoice Simple, Estimate Maker" to create phony invoices to present to the pawn shops. Bain also told Joliet Police that "he stole the Monsoon Blue queen-size beds and Monsoon Blue end tables from G&D Integrated. He sold the beds for $500 each on 'Offerup.com' for a total of $1,000," court documents note.

The forfeiture complaint indicates five Laticrete Thermostats were found by Joliet Police inside Bain's 2012 Volkswagen Jetta on May 15 and 5 grams of THC vape oil cartridges/Gusher's Supreme G's were recovered from a backpack on the front passenger side door of Bain's car.

Zeiter was also interviewed by Joliet Police as part of their investigation against Bain, but he was not charged in connection with the case.

Bain, who lives in the 21000 block of South River Road, remained in the Will County Jail from April 30 until July 25. The Shorewood man's pending criminal case is set for a hearing on Wednesday, August 21, regarding veterans court contract status, the record reflects.