Beleaguered Comparator’s Chief Plans to Step Down

In the latest fallout since federal regulators sued Comparator Systems Corp. for fraud, the beleaguered company disclosed Friday that its longtime chairman and chief executive officer will be stepping down by the end of the year.

In a brief report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Newport Beach maker of fingerprint identification systems said Robert Reed Rogers intends to retire “at the earliest practicable opportunity.”

The filing, which also announced the appointment of a new president and chief executive, provided no further information about Rogers’ retirement except to say that he would be available as a consultant to the company.

The disclosure comes five weeks after Rogers was named in a sweeping suit brought by the SEC following intense regulatory scrutiny. The suit accuses Rogers and two other top officers of Comparator--Vice President Gregory Armijo and former executive Scott Hitt--of lying about the company’s finances, stealing a key product and bilking investors by selling millions of shares of virtually worthless stock. Rogers has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Rogers, 67, had quietly led the tiny, struggling company since August 1983. But in May, Comparator emerged from obscurity when its long-dormant penny stock rocketed to as high as $1.88 per share over several days, setting trading records on the Nasdaq market. The company’s stock has since been delisted by Nasdaq.

Comparator did not answer phone calls Friday, and Rogers could not be reached at his Newport Beach home. His attorney, Gerald Boltz, a former regional administrator of the SEC’s office in Los Angeles, also could not be reached.

In previous interviews, Rogers has said he has not profited from the meteoric rise in the company’s stock. Rogers owns about 12% of Comparator’s 610 million shares of stock, an unusually high number created as Comparator issued millions of shares in lieu of paying salaries and such services as legal work and even dental work for Rogers and other employees.

Rogers, whose resume includes teaching at a college and running a metals refining firm, said in a recent Times interview that he would prove his critics wrong. “You’ll see, I’m betting my career on it,” he said.

But since the SEC lawsuit, the company’s stock has slid back to pennies in private trading after being removed from Nasdaq. And last week, Richard E. Floegel announced his resignation as president and chief operating officer.

SEC investigators said Friday they were not surprised by Rogers’ retirement announcement, but they declined to comment further, noting that the civil lawsuit is pending.

Comparator also said in its filing Friday that Armond J. Schroeder has been named by the board as the company’s president and chief executive officer, effective immediately. No further details were provided.

Schroeder has not been named in the SEC lawsuit, nor in a shareholders’ suit that has been filed against Comparator for allegedly manipulating the company’s stock. But Schroeder is no stranger to Comparator, either.

Since last fall, Schroeder has been president of International Financial Systems, a Comparator subsidiary that is based in Anchorage. He could not be reached for comment.

Sources familiar with International Financial say the company is in the software business. Comparator, which acquired International Financial last fall, has said the subsidiary had sales of $4.25 million over four years through 1995.

Comparator’s SEC filing also noted that the company has obtained a court judgment of $118,725 from Kay Churchill, a former employee who has been a key witness for regulators. Comparator fired Churchill about two years ago, accusing her of embezzling $800,000 in cash and stock.

Churchill, who has since changed her name to Summer Rayne Wolf and appeared in a porno movie and adult magazines, has denied the embezzlement allegations. She said she has filed for bankruptcy and hopes to become a medical technician.