RSH - one of their board members
Posted on Thu, Nov. 02, 2006
CEO of food service equipment firm faces child porn charges
Associated Press
LIBERTY, Mo. - The top executive of a food service equipment company was charged Wednesday with three counts of possessing child pornography, Clay County authorities said.
Ronald E. Elmquist, 60, is president and chief executive officer of QualServ Corp., one of the nation's largest manufacturers and distributors of kitchen equipment and tableware. The company is based in North Kansas City, with additional plants in Fort Smith, Ark.; Columbia, S.C.; and Nashville.
Elmquist, who also is on the board of directors of RadioShack Corp., was taken in for questioning Tuesday in his company's parking lot by North Kansas City police. He was free on $100,000 bond after being charged Wednesday.
Clay County authorities said a QualServ technician found images of teenage and prepubescent girls on Elmquist's company-issued laptop computer after Elmquist complained about pop-up ads and spyware. The technician, who alerted police to the images, said no one else used the computer, according to court documents.
Among the images was a video of a 14-year-old girl performing a strip tease and a sex act, and pictures of other nude girls engaged in various sexual acts, according to court documents.
"It is very disturbing that a 60-year-old man who is an executive of a major corporation would be engaging in such perverted behavior," Clay County prosecutor Daniel White said.
Court records did not show an attorney on record for Elmquist late Wednesday.
Elmquist was placed on administrative leave by QualServ, where he became president and CEO in October 2005.
QualServe has cooperated with authorities, company spokeswoman Christine Croissant said.
Elmquist served previously as president and CEO of SubmitOrder Inc., which provides information technology and services, and as president, chairman and CEO of Keystone Automotive Inc. from June 1998 to February 2001.
He joined Campbell Soup Co. in 1994 as a vice president overseeing global food service, and became a director of RadioShack Corp. in 1997.
Information from: The Kansas City Star, kcstar.com |
