50-Year-Old Mark Warren Samoline from Duluth, GA, a vice-president with UPS and Colonel (reserves) in the United States Marine Corps Individual Ready Reserve has been arrested and charged with rape in Bloomington, Indiana. Samoline is out on bond and has pleaded not guilty after telling the court that the sex was consensual. The 21-Year-Old woman was a student from Indiana University and allegedly the roommate of his daughter.
Samoline is on administrative leave from UPS following his arrest.
Update I 11/6/09 – There is an unconfirmed rumor that Samoline is now deceased (This has now been confirmed, see below update). As soon as I can confirm that it’s true or not I will update this again. I still have note been able to find any local reports yet but there have been a couple of people who have left comments as such in the last 24 hours.
One thing to note. Samoline had several online profiles on Facebook and LinkedIn and over the last week they have all disappeared. For example his Facebook was here and LinkedIn here but neither exist anymore nor are they even in Google’s cache. Yahoo has also recently removed his FaceBook profile from it’s cache as well. His Classmates.com profile has also been deleted. There is a cached version of Samoline’s Facebook you can access here.
Update II 11/7/09 – I have emailed a couple of the local reporters that put up a quick blurb on the Samoline case last week to try and verify the comment that he has passed away. As of yet I don’t have confirmation of that. The funeral home that handled the process for a relative earlier this year also has no information on any arrangements as of yet either.
Anyone with information on Mark Samoline that doesn’t necessarily want to comment is more than welcome to email me anonymously at the ‘contact me’ link in the top right corner of the page.
Update III 11/7/09 – In addition to the several commenters here I have had a couple of other unnamed sources confirm that Mark Samoline has indeed passed away, although whether it was self-inflicted or not is a question I have. Regardless of the charges he was facing our sympathy goes out to the Samoline family as well as that of the victim. They will all have a long road to travel in their grief. I may or may not update the story again depending on if there are any changes to information I receive.
Updated 11/9/09 – Due to the fact that I have received a Cease and Desist letter I have removed all comments from this post.
While most of what I have here wouldn’t be considered as defamatory there are quite a few comments that most definitely could, both from the alleged rape victim’s supporters as well as Samoline’s ardent friends. That’s normal in a case like this as emotions can run high. Unfortunately all of the comments will be deleted and no more comments will be accepted on this post. If you feel the need to vent or have verifiable information as to this post feel free to email me anonymously at the link in the top right on my sidebar.
As part of the Cease and Desist the attorney claims that the email sent to me is copyright and I cannot use it in a post. While I might be able to post it here and fight it out I do not have the time to devote to the matter.
Update 11/10/09 – I removed this post in it’s entirety yesterday but obviously I have put it back up. Prior to Samoline’s untimely demise the only portion of this post that was online was the first paragraph prior to the 11/6 update. While attorneys for Mr. Samoline claim that the attention from the media and “crime blogs” is what led to his death I don’t see it that way. Shadowscope is the only crime blog that had a post up about the alleged rape at the time of his death and it was one entire paragraph. The post will remain online, however comments will remain closed on this.
According to WTOP Mark Samoline checked into a Marriott Residence Inn in Norcross, GA, placed a plastic bag over his head and ingested helium that he pumped into the bag from a tank, the result being that he died from asphyxiation. Police won’t say if he left a note. The Herald-Times is reporting that police found a suicide note at the scene along with other personal belongings.
Samoline has been a Colonel in the Reserve since 2005 and earned several rewards while serving throughout his military career.
Attorneys representing Samoline released a statement yesterday afternoon,
“The death of Mark Samoline is a tragedy for everyone involved, but, the rush to judgment by the justice system, UPS, the media and the Internet community was more than he could take, even though he strongly and consistently maintained his innocence. While the Constitution provides that an accused person is innocent until proven guilty, this is a tragic example of how today’s society rushes to judgment, without waiting to hear the whole story.”
Considering that there was very little media coverage of this story anywhere but the Herald Times Online prior to Samoline’s death I find blaming his death on the media a bit hard to swallow. About the only reports you could find anywhere were little more than a paragraph explaining the arrest and the fact that he said it was consensual and gave a DNA sample to make sure he didn’t have any sexually transmitted diseases that might be passed on to the woman.
His attorneys do have a point though, in that sometimes the public and media, myself included, do have a tendency to rush to judgment in matters such as this. While I don’t think this was one of those cases it does happen.
Updated 11/10/09 – I have reopened the comments on this post. I have posted some new rules for commenting her until I can implement a registration system that will actually work. Please feel free to post your opinions and/or anything you know but remember the following rules.
1. No personal attacks.
2. Be civil with each other or I will delete your comment.
3. Any hate/race related comments and I will not only edit your comment to take out the offensive parts but I will also post your email address for all to see along with any links to online profiles that I might be able to find.
4. I encourage you to post information about any case which you may have knowledge of but please don’t just make stuff up to post it.
Those of us who knew Mark Samoline, will miss him deeply. He was an outstanding friend and Marine Officer. It is hard for me to imagine him being involved in a rape of any kind, and it is equally incredible to me that he is now gone. Mark was not someone who would have wanted to live under a shadow of suspicion and maybe that is why he made the choice he did. My heart goes out to his kids and his wife, although I won’t name them here. For his accuser, this whole thing has been a tragedy of incredible proportions. I hope she too finds peace, although my deepest sympathies lie with the Samoline family. This whole thing just doesn’t seem real. Semper Fidelis.
amazing so because he was a marine he should be honored? what about a possible rapist?
you are the worst kind of filth that this world…. it is because of you that mark is dead. You need to realize the consequences of your
actions,your irresponsible blogging has caused the death and demise of a great person……
I am friend of the first victim’s family I am not going to make any sort of statement for or against either family at this point as now there are two families who are victims. There actually were right away as no matter if guilty or innocent, Mr Samoline’s family were victims by association. At least in my mind. I admit that I was hoping for other people to come forward to substantiate a pattern of abuse of some sort so the acusser wouldn’t have such a hard time of it when this went to trial. I know that attorneys can be brutal to rape victims just as some remarks on blogs have been. I don’t believe that ANYONE wanted this outcome. I also don’t believe that any one can say that Mr Samoline’s actions were the fault of anyone else as many undergo criticism and live through it. Whether one blog was final straw in a series of blows, that may be; or it may have been the actions of his employer that put him over the edge. A marine friend gave this another point of view. “It is sad but in a way also the honorable thing to do. He screwed up, knew he screwed up, and “fell on his sword” because he screwed up.” I am not saying that he did or didn’t “screw up” at this point but maybe the family can take a Marine’s statement as praise for being responsible in some sort of way at the end of the day and providing for his family in the only way he could think of at the time in his despair???
This is a sad ending for both families. The death of another human being and the loss suffered by his family is not what the victim wanted. At this point all that’s left is for both families is to heal. All parties involved with this are sad about the outcome. How can someone be comfortable about this? When she went to the hospital for treatment it was a done deal. No one can be satisfied when death or violence has occurred. If you really think about it, your comments that bring doubt onto anyone involved are really no longer necessary. Nothing can exonerate the victim or the accused; nor bring him back to life at this point and postulating will help neither family.
Regardless of what he was accused of, Mark Samoline was a good Marine and a good friend. I served under then Mark Samoline over 20 years ago and knew him quite well and had maintained contact with Mark. While it can be argued that I had not been in constant contact with this man, I still have nothing but undying respect for him. It is altogether too easy for those of you who neither knew him personally nor picked up a weapon and stood your post to cast stones at an honorable man. Rest In Peace and Semper Fi Sir. You will be sorely missed.
K.A. White, USMC
Anonymous, explain to me how one paragraph, which included the following facts, he was arrested and charged with rape, he pleaded not guilty and said the sex was consensual, and bonded out of jail makes me responsible for him killing himself? For that’s all there was of this post prior to Mark Samoline’s death. As a matter of fact there was much less coverage here than there was in the mainstream media.
I reported the facts as they were given by law enforcement and nothing more. Don’t try and turn this into something it isn’t and oh by the way, you obviously missed the part about personal attacks that’s spelled out not once but twice on this page. Your IP address is banned.
Today is 10 Nov 2011, the 236th birthday of the United States Marine Corps, today of all days I remember my Commanding Officer and one of my closest friends, Mark W. Samoline To him and in his memory I offer this prayer:
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
Happy Birthday Sir!
GOD bless,
Sgt K. A. White, USMC
Sgt White –
You are a good man for remembering the late, great Mark Samoline. I had the pleasure of working with Mark, and I think about him almost every day. RIP Brother Mark.
My best
Paul McGee