A vice president for shipping giant UPS who was accused of raping a 21-year-old Indiana University student over homecoming weekend has committed suicide in Georgia, police said Monday. Mark Samoline, who had been with UPS for 15 years and was involved in providing transportation consulting services to clients of the company's supply chain unit, was found dead in a hotel room Friday in Norcross, an Atlanta suburb. The 50-year-old placed a plastic bag over his head and ingested helium that he pumped into the bag from a tank, said Officer Brian Kelly, a Gwinnett County Police Department spokesman. He died of asphyxiation. He was alone in the room, dressed in a Marine uniform. Police would not say if he left a note. Kelly said Samoline had served in the Marines, though the officer was unsure if the man was in active service, in the reserves or retired. Samoline, whose title at UPS was vice president, customer solutions, was placed on leave after he appeared in an Indiana courtroom last week on a rape charge, according to UPS spokesman Norman Black. He lived in Johns Creek, Ga. Kelly said the alleged attack occurred last month in Indiana. Samoline told police there that he engaged in consensual sex with the woman, Kelly said. Samoline had been free on bond. |