John Randal Tyson pleads guilty to DWI

John R. Tyson of Tyson Foods changed his plea to guilty to a driving while intoxicated charge, paid $960 in total fines, and agreed to 32 hours of community service in a Fayetteville court last week, according to a Bloomberg report.

The former chief financial officer and son of board chairman John Tyson was arrested on June 13 at 1.30 a.m. by the University of Arkansas Police Department for careless driving. Tyson’s intoxication registered at 0.191, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08, according to police records.

He faced 90 days in jail, but that was avoided with the guilty plea and time served with the one day he spent in jail following the arrest.

Tyson Foods suspended him as CFO in June and named Curt Calloway to be the CFO. John R. Tyson remains employed at Tyson Foods as an executive vice president, the website notes.

Initially, the now 34-year-old Tyson declared a not-guilty plea, but in January 2023, he entered a guilty plea to public intoxication and criminal trespass.

Tyson’s arrest in June marked the second time he had been arrested in Fayetteville on alcohol-related charges in 16 months. In November 2022, Tyson was arrested in Fayetteville after falling asleep in a bed at the residence of a person he did not know.