A Leitchfield man is accused of threatening his former employer in addition to unlawfully accessing the company’s computer system and creating a fake freight shipment.
The Leitchfield Police Department arrested 45-year-old Adam Schmidt on Tuesday and charged him with second-degree terroristic threatening, fourth-degree unlawful access to a computer, harassing communications, and driving on a suspended/revoked operator’s license.
According to the arrest citation, Schmidt was fired from Wessol LLC in July of last year and has since scheduled fake freight shipments by using the company’s internal computer system.
“Over the course of a year Adam has been able to unlawfully access and log into Wessol business management system using current employee security questions to schedule a false shipment to California,” the citation states.
The company’s Information Technology Department successfully identified the device used to schedule the fake freight shipment and discovered the device, an Android mobile phone, was located in Leitchfield.
The cellphone was also used to call Wessol’s customer service line “at least 10 times” and leave sexually explicit voicemails, the citation states.
Schmidt is additionally accused of shooting a Wessol company sweatshirt multiple times with a 9mm handgun. He then allegedly circled the bullet holes and wrote “9mm” and “coward” on the shirt and left it on the company’s loading dock.
Surveillance video was obtained by Leitchfield police which showed Schmidt exit his vehicle, a Ford Focus, and walk toward the Wessol loading dock on August 24.
On Tuesday, Leitchfield Police Department Det. Eric Miller and Sgt. Keith Harrell conducted a traffic stop on Schmidt on South Main Street in Leitchfield.
During a search of the vehicle, police found a single 9mm bullet in the center console. A search warrant was then obtained and executed at Schmidt’s residence where police located a 9mm handgun and the Android cellphone used to arrange the fake freight shipments and call the company’s customer service line and leave sexually explicit messages.
The charges Schmidt faces are misdemeanors except for the second-degree terroristic threatening charge, which is a class D felony unless, according to KRS 508.078 (5), “the person intentionally engages in substantial conduct required to prepare for or carry out the threatened act, including but not limited to gathering weapons, ammunition, body armor, vehicles, or materials required to manufacture a weapon of mass destruction” in which case the charge is a class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Schmidt was lodged in the Grayson County Detention Center but is no longer listed as an inmate.
Wessol manufactures battery-powered sprayers and ships products all over the world. The Leitchfield facility is one of two warehouses the international company maintains, according to the company’s website. The company has factories in Central America and Asia.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
