Man denies Grainger theft charges
One of two men accused of stealing more than $16,000 worth of power tools from W.W. Grainger Inc. in Lincolnshire pleaded not guilty Thursday in Lake County circuit court.
Kermit Townsend, 63, of Chicago, faces up to seven years in prison if convicted of theft and computer fraud.
Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Stanton said Townsend and Clarence Perry, 50, a former Grainger employee, are accused of ordering the tools using purchasing account numbers of real Grainger clients.
Stanton said the pair ordered $6,592 worth of tools on Dec. 22 of last year, another $3,542 worth on Dec. 28 and placed a final order for $6,610 in tools on Jan. 10.
On each occasion, Stanton said, the tools were shipped to a storage locker in River Grove that Townsend had rented.
When bills for the tools went unpaid, Lincolnshire police traced the computer they were ordered from to Perry’s residence in Maywood, Stanton said.
Police served a search warrant on the house and the storage locker on Jan. 12, Stanton said, and found in Perry’s house hundreds of pages of personal identification information apparently stolen from Grainger.
Some of the tools ordered from the company were found in the storage locker, Stanton said, and police also recovered security video she said shows Townsend and Perry removing other tools from the locker.
Perry remains at large and an arrest warrant calls for him to be held on $100,000 bond if he is caught.
Townsend is free on $2,500 bond and is due to appear in court June 15.