John Tyson, CFO at US meat heavyweight Tyson Foods, has pleaded guilty to charges of criminal trespassing and public intoxication.
He reportedly agreed to pay a US$150 fine on both charges on Tuesday (January 24), leading to a total of US$440 when including fees.
It follows the arrest of the recently-appointed CFO, great-grandson of the company’s founder, when he was found asleep in a stranger’s bed in Arkansas in November.
Footage released by Fayetteville Police shows officers waking Tyson and informing him: “You are not in your house,” before handcuffing him in bed. As an officer leads him out of the bedroom he says: “The girl who lives here doesn’t know you.”
US media reported at the time that a college-aged female allegedly found Tyson, who she did not know, asleep in her bed upon returning home.
The woman called the police, fearing a potential burglary. He was identified by ID found in his clothes which had been strewn on the floor.
The police report cited “Tyson’s unlawful presence in a house, where he was not invited, paired with the odour of intoxicants and his general demeanour when confronted by uniformed officers”.
On Tyson Foods’s earnings call with analysts in November, Tyson admitted he was “embarrassed” and took “full responsibility” for his actions, promising it would “never happen again”.
He pleaded not guilty to criminal trespassing and public intoxication offences in December, and the Tyson board issued a statement which said it “supports Mr Tyson and has continued confidence in his ability to lead Tyson Foods as CFO”.
Tyson joined the company in 2019 as its chief sustainability officer, becoming executive vice president in 2021 and CFO in October 2022. He has an economics degree from Harvard University and a Master of Business Administration Degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
His father, also John Tyson, was chief executive between 2000 until 2006 and has been chairman since 1998.
