Tyson Foods suspends CFO after second arrest

US-based international meat processing company Tyson Foods announced that it would suspend its chief financial officer after he was arrested on Thursday on several charges, including drunk driving.

John R. Tyson, 34, was arrested by University of Arkansas police on charges of drunken driving, careless driving and improper turning/reversing, according to Washington County sheriff’s records. He was later released on $1,105 bail.

Tyson is the great-grandson of company founder John W. Tyson. He has been the company’s CFO since 2022.

“We are aware that John Randal Tyson, Chief Financial Officer of Tyson Foods, was arrested for suspected drunken driving. Tyson Foods has suspended Mr. Tyson from his duties, effective immediately, and appointed Curt Calaway as interim Chief Financial Officer,” Tyson Foods said in a statement posted on its website.

The company’s share price lost more than 1.5 percent following the incident.

Not his first encounter with the police

John R. Tyson was previously arrested in Fayetteville in 2022 for trespassing and public intoxication. The charges were filed after a student told officers she found John R. Tyson, who was unknown to her, sleeping in her bed, according to a police report seen by Reuters.

He responded to the incident with a company-wide apology and said he was undergoing treatment for alcohol abuse, the Associated Press reported. He pleaded guilty to the charge and paid related fines and legal fees.

Before being named CFO, John R. Tyson served as the company’s Chief Sustainability Officer. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Harvard University and a Master of Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

The news comes just weeks after Tyson Foods was accused of citizenship discrimination, racial discrimination and violating child labor laws by the nonprofit legal organization America First Legal.

“Any suggestion that we would discriminate against Americans to hire immigrants is completely false,” a Tyson Foods spokesman said earlier Newsweek. “Today, Tyson Foods employs 120,000 people in the United States, all of whom must have a legal permit to work in this country.”

Tyson Foods is the second-largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork in the world. Tyson produces about one-fifth of the beef, chicken and pork sold in the United States. The company was founded in 1935 and is headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas.