St. Louis area fitness firm says exec’s kidnapping plea won’t impact company

Nov. 23--ST. LOUIS -- A former local fitness executive's guilty plea to a kidnapping charge will have no impact on the company he founded, an executive told the Post-Dispatch.

BAM Brands COO Mark Otter wrote in an email that founder Todd Beckman's ownership interests had been transferred to a trust for estate planning and to benefit his children.

Otter said that the resolution of Beckman's "legal issues" would allow the company "to refocus 100 percent of our attention on the growth of our brands."

Beckman, 53, pleaded guilty Nov. 2 and admitted conspiring to kidnap a Maplewood man in an attempt to recover about $15,000 and 24 pounds of marijuana that was stolen from a man who dealt marijuana for Beckman. The alleged thief also sold marijuana for Beckman, who imported the drug from California, according to court testimony.

The victim was held in a basement and then in a shipping container, beaten and had his life threatened, court documents say.

Beckman's attorney, Travis Noble, said he had no knowledge of how the plea would affect Beckman's business, and prosecutors have not raised the issue in court.

Three co-defendants have also pleaded guilty to the same kidnapping conspiracy charge. Prosecutors have agreed to ask for 20 years in prison when they are sentenced. Another pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony for failing to call police once he saw the victim being held in the basement.

The victim was released after his parents paid $27,000 ransom.

Beckman was founder, president and CEO of BAM Brands, but turned over day-to-day control to Otter in April 2016, Otter wrote in an email in response to questions about the case. The company owns TanCo, Xist Fitness, Massage Luxe and "age management company" LifeXist.

In the email, Otter said franchises were individually owned and operated. In all, those franchises employ more than 1,200 throughout the U.S., he wrote.

Otter said MassageLuXe alone had 52 locations in 12 states, with 20 to 25 expected to open in 2018.

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