$10 million bond reduced for Joliet murder-for-hire defendant

At $10 million, a Joliet man charged with soliciting the murder of a confidential informant had one of the largest bonds among inmates in the Will County jail until a judge brought it down to just under $1 million in the past week.

Jay Nink, 35, who’s been in jail since 2017, won’t be released yet until there is a court hearing to determine the source of any money that may be posted for his new bond of $999,000.

Prosecutors requested the hearing after alleging in an April 18 motion that Nink “does not appear to have any income from legitimate sources to post bail.”

Judge Dave Carlson lowered Nink’s bond from $10 million to under $1 million on April 18, after Nink’s attorney, Paul Napolski, said in a motion that his client does not have the money to post 10% of his $10 million bond. Napolski’s motion also said Nink would be eligible for work detail at the jail if his bond was lowered.

Nink, who was convicted of second-degree murder in 2008, was indicted in 2019 on charges of solicitation of murder for hire and solicitation of murder of a confidential informant in a criminal case.

Sheriff’s deputies had been notified that Nink had approached a fellow inmate at the jail regarding “taking care of” a confidential informant who would be testifying against him in a case, according to a 2019 statement from the Will County Sheriff’s Office.

“According to reports, Nink told the fellow inmate that he would make it worth his while to have the confidential informant killed,” police said.

The inmate worked with detectives to persuade Nink that he had a relative who was a hitman and would carry out the murder for payment of cash and guns, police said.

Nink had landed in jail in 2017 after he and 15 other people were arrested in a massive sweep conducted by the Joliet Police Department, the Joliet Metropolitan Area Narcotics Squad and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

More then 30 firearms and 200 grams of cocaine were seized in the multi-agency operation that targeted suspected gang members.

The 2017 warrant for Nink’s arrest said he had a tattoo on his right forearm that said, “Trample The Weak.”

Following Nink’s arrest in that incident, he was charged with armed habitual criminal, gunrunning and unlawful use of a weapon by felon. Nink’s case over those charges has yet to conclude after almost six years.

The charges alleged Nink sold several shotguns that he unlawfully possessed after he had been convicted of second-degree murder in 2008.

Nink pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Marcus Adams, 19, who died after he was stabbed by Nink during an altercation on Jan. 11, 2007. Former Judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes sentenced Nink to 10 years in prison.