Former Parkdale executive accused of keying company president's BMW

GASTON COUNTY, N.C.,None — A black BMW 750Li driven by Parkdale Mills President and CEO Anderson "Andy" Warlick was keyed on Aug. 30, and a former executive at Parkdale is charged with the crime.

The 2011 German-made luxury sedan was at the Gaston Country Club, 3700 Country Club Drive, Gastonia, when it sustained $4,500 in damage, according to police reports.

Facing a charge of injury to personal property in the incident is 56-year-old John Milton Smeak Jr., of 3521 Country Club Drive, Gastonia.

He was employed as president of sales at Parkdale Mills in 2003, according to a report by the U.S. International Trade Commission.

In a March 2011 company report from Dun & Bradstreet, Smeak was listed as having been a president and vice president of sales at Parkdale.

As of Wednesday, Smeak was not listed on Parkdale's website under sales contacts.

He was booked into the Gaston County Jail on Sept. 2 at 1:21 p.m. and immediately released on a written promise to appear, according to arrest records.

"I'm not really allowed to talk about it," Warlick said, declining to comment about the incident.

Warlick is the son-in-law of Southern textile magnate Duke Kimbrell, who is chairman of the board at Parkdale, with corporate headquarters in Gaston. The yarn-spinning corporation employees 5,000 people in the Southeastern United States, Mexico and Colombia, including about 400 in Gaston County.

Parkdale has annual sales of around $1.5 billion and its 30 factories produce more than 20 million pounds of yarn a week.

Smeak turned himself in to police after being informed that an arrest warrant had been issued for him, according to Donna Lahser, Gastonia Police public information officer.

Calls to his home were not answered on Wednesday.

The damaged sedan is a company car owned by Parkdale Mills, according to police.

A 2011 model year BMW 750Li sedan is priced from $88,200 and boasts 400-horsepower V8 engine that gets approximately 22 miles-per-gallon on the highway, according to bmwusa.com.

Warlick is set to receive this year's Spirit of the Carolinas Award from the Gaston Regional Chamber of Commerce on Sept. 29. The award will be presented at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden.

WSOC