CHESTER, NOVA SCOTIA — GN Thermoforming Equipment founder Georg Nemeskeri was arrested April 1 and faces child pornography-related charges, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
RCMP's Nova Scotia Provincial Internet Child Exploitation Unit, Technological Crime Unit and members of its local district police force came knocking at Nemeskeri's Chester village home early in the morning on April 1 with a search warrant.
“Preliminary analysis of devices located at the residence confirmed they contained child pornography images,” RCMP said in an April 7 news release.
Nemeskeri, 71, has been conditionally released from custody and is scheduled to appear in Bridgewater provincial court on Oct. 7. He was charged with possession of child pornography and making available child pornography.
The Criminal Code of Canada defines children in the context of pornography as persons under the age of 18. These charges carry potential prison sentences of 90 days to five years.
GN officials did not respond to questions by press time. Nemeskeri was listed as GN's president on the company's website until the afternoon of April 9, when it was updated to show that Bruce Kelley had assumed the title. Kelley has been GN's general manager since 2012, according to his LinkedIn profile.
GN Thermoforming Equipment opened for business as GN Plastics in 1981 and now employs some 100 people including a small contingent in Jihlava, Czech Republic.
The original GN thermoformer was designed and built by Nemeskeri to manufacture packaging for his first company, packaging thermoformer Chester Plastics Ltd., which opened its doors in May 1969. Nemeskeri sold Chester Plastics to Ivex Packaging Corp. in 2001. Alcoa Inc. bought Ivex in 2002 and closed the Chester plant in 2005.
Originally from Hungary, the Nemeskeri family moved to Austria in the mid-1950s. Nemeskeri's father, Karl Nemeskeri, was an early pioneer in the vacuum forming business. Father and son were encouraged to set up shop in Canada by a 1960s Nova Scotia industrial incentive program.
About 10 percent of the company's business is derived from the design of tooling for its customers, primarily in the food packaging industry. The company is considered an industry innovator with its common-edge knife in-mold cutting. GN equipment can be found in 68 countries.
The Canadian Plastics Industry Association, based in Mississauga, Ontario, named Georg Nemeskeri its 2002 Leader of the Year.
