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Facing rape charge, colonel commits suicide

11-24-2009 Georgia:

Fit and with chiseled good looks, he was the picture of a “squared-away” Marine Corps officer.

A reservist, he parlayed an Ivy League degree into corporate success.

He had respect, friends and family.

It all unraveled suddenly after he had sex with his daughter’s college acquaintance.

He said it was consensual. She said it was rape.

Four days after pleading innocent to related charges, Col. Mark W. Samoline, 50, was found dead of an apparent suicide at the Residence Inn Marriott in Norcross, Ga.

A maid discovered his body. He was dressed in his Marine dress “D” uniform — short-sleeve khaki shirt with blue trousers. Samoline had duct-taped a plastic bag around his head and asphyxiated himself with helium, according to the Gwinnett County Police Department.

Samoline, a logistician in the Individual Ready Reserve who commanded a Kansas City, Mo.-based unit responsible for mustering and mobilizing IRR Marines, was a vice president at United Parcel Service. He was suspended from his civilian job, however, after his employers learned about the rape allegation.

Samoline faced up to 20 years in prison. He was visiting his daughter, a student at Indiana University in Bloomington, on Oct. 18 when he had sex with one of her acquaintances in an off-campus apartment, according to police and his attorney, Megan Lewis.

The 21-year-old woman told police that she had been drinking before she went to sleep, and that she woke up as Samoline was having sex with her, said Capt. Joe Qualters, a Bloomington police spokesman. Samoline told authorities that he had sex with the woman, but called it consensual, Qualters said.

“He was remorseful that he had sex with her and also indicated that he was remorseful that he hadn’t used a condom,” Qualters said.

Samoline was married, but separated from his wife, his attorney said. He is survived by his two children and two stepchildren. Efforts to contact his family were unsuccessful.

On Nov. 2, Samoline appeared in court, pleaded not guilty, and agreed to give a blood sample so he could be tested for communicable diseases. He posted a $20,000 bond and was ordered to stay away from the alleged victim.
A prosperous career

Samoline was the picture of success — a Harvard-educated executive at UPS and a longtime Marine officer, serving on active duty from 1982 to 1991 before moving to the Reserve. His booking photo, released by Bloomington police, shows his chiseled jawline and a quintessentially Marine hairstyle.

He lived in a gated community in Johns Creek, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta along the shores of the Chattahoochee River. The street on which he lived is lined with three-story luxury town houses, some of which are currently selling for close to $500,000.

Samoline’s home of record is Atlanta, according to information provided by Marine Corps Mobilization Command in Kansas City. He earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of San Francisco and later picked up a master’s in business administration from Harvard.

In May, he took command of Peacetime/Wartime Support Team Midwest in Kansas City. Before that, Samoline was deputy rear area operations group commander with III Marine Expeditionary Force in Okinawa, a position he held from May 2004 until April 2009.

Throughout his Marine career, Samoline held numerous assignments, including stints as a platoon commander with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit and, later, as a logistics officer with the 13th MEU, both out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.

He was hired by UPS in 1994 and initially worked in Tokyo, a company spokesman told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Samoline then went on to become the company’s highest-ranking supply chain manager in Japan and South Korea. At the time of his suspension, he worked at UPS’ corporate headquarters in Sandy Springs, Ga., as a vice president of supply chain and logistics.

Mike Healy said he met Samoline when the future colonel was a junior in college. They became friends, then roommates and stayed in touch through mutual friends over the years.

Healy described Samoline as “squared away,” a “genius” who would file complicated tax returns for his friends during college and helped his friends live on slim budgets. He said Samoline was athletic. He was someone who could “outrun a deer,” Healy said.

He said Samoline’s death and the allegations against him. The decision to have sex with a college student was “poor judgment on his part,” Healy said, but he vehemently defended his friend’s character.

“When I heard about what happened … there’s no way in hell he raped anybody,” Healy said. “I still can’t quite fathom that he would take his own life like that. What could have led to this? I have no idea. He was very devoted. He was a sensitive guy.”

Healy said several mutual friends attended Samoline’s funeral Nov. 12 in the Atlanta area.
Maintained his innocence

Samoline’s arrest was detailed in newspaper and television reports throughout Indiana, and bloggers ferociously debated his case online — all of it unwanted attention that, along with his employer’s decision to put him on leave, was “too much for him to handle,” his attorney said.

“He maintained his innocence throughout,” Lewis said, adding she believed Samoline had a strong case. “This is an example of a system, through the media, where you’re guilty until proven innocent.”

Around 2 p.m. Nov. 5, Samoline checked in at the Marriott less than 10 miles from his home, but he didn’t stay the night there, according to a police report. Instead, he went out with his son, who returned him to the hotel the next morning around 7. He was scheduled to check out of his room by 11 a.m.

The maid found his body shortly after noon. A medical examiner ruled his death a suicide.

An unloaded 9mm pistol, wrapped in a white plastic bag, was found on a table near Samoline’s body — along with a note. Police declined to discuss the letter’s contents. ..Source.. by Trista Talton - Staff writer

Suicide at Washtenaw County Jail under investigation

11-24-2009 Michigan:

A man charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct committed suicide Monday at the Washtenaw County Jail, authorities said.

Nicholas John Plennert II, 36, was found by a correctional officer about 4:55 p.m., who reported that Plennert had hanged himself, Washtenaw County sheriff's deputies said.

He was taken to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Investigators have interviewed the inmates on the cell block, said Derrick Jackson, the sheriff's department's director of community engagement. An internal investigation, which is considered routine in such a case, is also under way, Jackson said.

Jackson did not know whether Plennert shared a cell with anyone and did not have details about the charge he was facing. Michigan State Police at the Ypsilanti post confirmed they are investigating the case and arrested Plennert in October, but no further details were available this afternoon.

"There's nothing that would lead us to believe it wasn't a suicide," Jackson said.

Plennert was booked at the jail on Nov. 12 and hadn't been convicted of anything, Jackson said.

Mental health support is being offered to staff and inmates, officials said. ..Source.. by Ann Arbor.com

Man found in store parking lot identified

11-19-2009 Texas:

A man found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in the Victoria Walmart parking lot Wednesday has been identified.

Bruce L. Bragdon, 46, was a Belgrade, Maine, resident.

According to Maine's online sex-offender registry, Bragdon was convicted of gross sexual assault of a child younger than 14 and of unlawful sexual contact.

Maine state police had contacted the Victoria Police Department on Wednesday because Bragdon was missing and his cell phone had been traced to Victoria, Lt. Jason Cross said. A suicide note was found in a journal inside Bragdon's car, where he died.

Justice of the Peace Robert Whitaker pronounced Bragdon dead Wednesday and did not order an autopsy because, he said, the death was obviously a suicide. ..Source.. Victoria Advocate.com

Questions raised after man dies in jail

11-18-2009 Indiana:

Sheriff: Man stuffed food in his mouth, fell out of chair and hit head

After a 65-year-old man diagnosed with depression and paranoid schizophrenia died at the Michael L. Becher Adult Corrections Complex on Friday, questions are being asked about whether jail was the right place for him.

Preston Shaw had been charged with sexual battery, as a class D felony, for allegedly molesting a severely disabled woman at Hillcrest Centre for Health and Rehabilitation in Jeffersonville in March. Shaw initially was found competent to stand trial by Circuit Court Judge Dan Moore, and then following a mental health evaluation, he was declared incompetent for a proceeding and was transported to Evansville State Hospital. He was returned to jail late last month after mental health officials determined he had improved enough to stand trial.

Rodden said Shaw was on 24-hour surveillance, and he was allowed to watch television in the holding area. That is where he was when he reportedly fell out of his wheelchair and landed face down on top of his dinner tray.

“He shoved a peanut butter sandwich in his mouth, and then he fell over and hit his head,” Rodden said.

Prisoner suffocates himself in Bent County

11-13-2009 Colorado:

LAS ANIMAS, Colo. (AP) - The death of a convicted sex offender who died earlier this month in a Bent County prison has been ruled a suicide.

County Coroner Dave Roberts said Friday that Geoffrey A. Scheid suffocated himself by putting a plastic bag over his head.

Scheid was serving a 16-year sentence from a sex assault in Adams County. He appealed his conviction in 2007, but his sentence was upheld.

Scheid was found dead at the medium-security Bent County Correctional Facility on Nov. 1. He was 58. ..Source..

Attorney: Heart disease may have killed Neb. man

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Cliff death man hid sex secrets shame

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GA- UPS executive commits suicide after rape charge

11-10-2009 Georgia:

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.

WA- Inmate dies after suicide attempt

11-2-2009 Washington:

Man was awaiting sentencing for rape

An inmate at the Clark County Jail awaiting sentencing for a rape charge has died after hanging himself inside a jail cell.

William L. Ward died Oct. 28 of asphyxia, three days after he was found unconscious in a jail cell and rushed to Southwest Washington Medical Center.

Ward was in custody awaiting a Nov. 18 sentencing for third-degree rape. He was also serving time for driving under the influence and domestic violence fourth-degree assault convictions, said Clark County sheriff's Sgt. Scott Schanaker.

At about 6:45 p.m. Oct. 25, Ward's cell mate returned and found Ward hanging by his bedsheets from the cell's sprinkler system. The cell mate alerted a custody officer.

Officers performed CPR on Ward and managed to resuscitate him, Schanaker said. He was taken to the hospital, where he died. His body was released to the Clark County Medical Examiner's Office, which ruled on the cause of death.

Schanaker said Ward had made earlier threats to commit suicide, but was not on suicide watch at the jail.

He was taking anti-anxiety and depression medications but had started "cheeking," or not swallowing his pills, Schanaker said. ..Source.. by LAURA MCVICKER
COLUMBIAN STAFF WRITER