UPS executive commits suicide after rape charge

By Rachel Tobin Ramos

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Mark Warren Samoline, 50, a vice president for UPS and Johns Creek resident, committed suicide just weeks after he was accused of raping a 21-year-old woman in Bloomington, Ind.

Gwinnett County police confirmed that Samoline's death Friday was ruled a suicide by the medical examiner.

His body was discovered by a hotel maid at a Marriott Residence Inn in Norcross, not far from his home, according to a police report.

The U.S. Marine Corps. colonel had worked at UPS since 1994.  He was wearing his military uniform when he was found.

Samoline had maintained his innocence during the ordeal, said his lawyer Megan B. Lewis of the Bloomington law firm Mallor Clendening Grodner & Bohrer.  He insisted the sex was consensual, Lewis said.  The accuser was a student at Indiana University, according to the Bloomington Herald Times.

Samoline had gotten very depressed about the allegations and the attention from online crime blogs and the media, Lewis said. UPS had suspended him pending an investigation.

Samoline was married but separated, Lewis said.

Last Monday, Samoline turned himself in to Bloomington, Ind., on the rape charges, then posted bail. He voluntarily submitted a blood sample, Lewis said.

"The death of Mark Samoline is a tragedy for everyone involved," she said.

Samoline joined UPS in 1994, working in Tokyo, UPS spokesman Norman Black said last week.

At one point, Samoline was the company's highest-ranking supply chain manager in Japan and Korea, Black said.

Prior to Samoline's death, he worked in corporate headquarters in Sandy Springs as a vice president of supply chain and logistics, working closely with defense vendors and contractors, Black said. He was one of hundreds of vice presidents at UPS, Black said.