Fugitive TP / Business Exec

[Demosthenes]

With founder a fugitive, Comtrol remakes itself
The Maple Grove computer parts firm has a new owner and four independent directors. Robert Beale is still wanted on tax charges.

By H.J. Cummins, Star Tribune

Last update: August 24, 2007 – 9:00 PM

Over the past year Comtrol Corp. was under court order to expunge its founder -- and tax fugitive -- Robert Beale from any role in the family-owned computer parts company.

This week the Beales announced they have managed that, while maintaining staff and sales numbers at the 25-year-old Maple Grove business.

"We stuck together, and hopefully with the company being stable it will reward everyone for their loyalty," said Vanessa Beale, marketing and communications manager and Robert's niece.

Scandal hit the family and the company last August when its patriarch failed to show for a court hearing on allegations that he owed the IRS $1.6 million.

Beale, a longtime tax protester who at different times cited God, the U.S. Constitution and the tyranny of political societies for his lack of payment, allegedly failed to file four years of state and federal returns on about $5.5 million in income.

One other executive was convicted of helping with the theft.

Beale remains a federal fugitive, and the family says it has not heard from him.

"I know it's been a difficult road for the family, but ultimately the decision was to move the company forward," said Comtrol marketing director Kris Rydberg. "This was the path that led them to the decisions that they made."

Rebecca Beale, now divorced from Robert, replaced him as majority owner, the company said.

The court also ordered an end to the all-family board of directors, and Comtrol established a new board with Bradford Beale, Rebecca's son and vice president of global sales, and four independent directors.

They are Karen Gilles Larson, former CEO of Synovis Life Technologies, a biomedical company; J.H. Caldwell; James Murdakes, and R.M. Rickenbach, Rydberg said. The latter three are former executives at Control Data, formerly a top Minnesota technology company, and also have entrepreneurial experience, Rydberg said.

He said Comtrol employs about 65 and has revenue between $20 million and $25 million, roughly equal to a year ago.

In the next two months Comtrol will roll out a new generation of RocketPort, the company's flagship product, which expands the number of devices a computer can control, Vanessa Beale said.

Comtrol also supplied part of the sensory instrumentation for a prototype car that navigates itself, she said.

That car will compete in a federal Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) competition in November, a military initiative to create more riderless vehicles for use in dangerous areas.