Carson City arrests: Man booked for electrical wire theft, possession of mushrooms and meth
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Sun, 11/14/2021 - 12:09pm
A 30-year-old man was arrested Tuesday for suspicion of felony burglary and grand larceny at Home Depot as well as possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms and methamphetamine, according to a Carson City Sheriff's Office booking report.
Nicholas William Forsythe, listed from Vacaville, Calif., was taken into custody in the 3000 block of Market Street.
According to the booking report, on Tuesday at approximately 4:30 p.m. a sheriff's detective was contacted by a Home Depot protection officer who advised they were currently watching an unknown male adult on surveillance, who is suspected of being involved in organized retail theft from the store chain.
On Monday, Nov. 8 the same male was in the Reno South Virginia Street store selecting a large spool of electrical wire and cut wire sections. When Home Depot employees offered assistance, the male abandoned his shopping cart and left the store. He was driving a rented U-Haul van with Arizona license plates.
An information flier was provided to nearby Home Depot stores with photos of the van and the subject.
At around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 9, security observed the male and van in the Carson City Home Depot parking lot. Carson City deputies and a detective responded to the store, maintaining surveillance on the male, where he was observed placing several pieces of pressure treated lumber on a flat rolling cart.
The male selected Milwaukee work gloves that he took the merchandise tag off and wore the gloves. The male went to the electrical aisle where he spent several minutes looking at a spool of electrical wire. The man then had a Home Depot employee cut several long sections of the thick wire, which was coated in black plastic coating.
The male then pushed his cart to the front of the store where he met with an associate at the customer service desk. The male purchased a $9 box of wood screws at the customer service desk. The male stood by the flat cart for several minutes and when it appeared no store associates were paying attention to him, he pushed the cart out the front exit, past all points of sale and without paying for the lumber, wire gloves and other items, the arrest report states.
A detective watched him exit the store and push the cart to the rear of the U-Haul van. The detective drove up behind the male as he was preparing to open the rear of the van. The male was detained and placed into handcuffs.
The male was identified as Nicholas Forsythe of California. He said he was an electrician who was buying the wire for his company job site in Sparks. He stated he intended to purchase the other items at the Home Depot lumber desk but he forgot after purchasing a box of screws.
He was read his Miranda warning. He initially denied stealing wire and other items from Home Depot and other Home Depot improvement stores. CCSO officers checked Forsythe with the pawnshop/scrap metal database and saw that he had been selling copper wire to Reno and Oakland, Calif., metal recyclers several times a week.
Forsythe admitted he had been stealing spools of wire, lengths of cut wire and other tools from Home Depot and other home improvement stores. He said he would sell the wire to metal recycles in order to fund his methamphetamine addiction.
He consented to a search of the van, where a detective located four spools of wire that appeared to have been taken from Lowe's Home Improvement store, and a large amount of the black wire coating that he had stripped off the wire. The arrest report notes that metal recyclers will not purchase copper wire with the coating still on it. The detective also found the wire stripping device and numerous packaged tools that he admitted he had been selling on social media.
In the cab of the van, officers located a baggie with what appeared to be small methamphetamine crystals, a methamphetamine pipe and a plastic baggie that had what appeared to be two psilocybin mushrooms labeled "penis envy," which is a particular strain of hallucinogenic mushroom.
Also located was a Carson City Home Depot scanning tool that was assigned to the Home Depot electrical department.
Home Depot itemized the items on the cart Forsythe didn't pay for, the pressure treated lumber, wire and tape at $1,373.61; Home Depot stated the scanning tool was valued at $1,400.
He was taken to jail and booked for suspicion of commercial burglary, grand larceny and possession of controlled substances. Total bail amount listed: $15,000.
— All information for the crime log (unless otherwise noted) comes from the arrest reports supplied by the Carson City Sheriff's Office, and is considered by law to be public information. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The policy of Carson Now is to name anyone who is arrested for a felony offense.
