SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. - One of six former Tyson Foods managers charged with participating in an immigrant smuggling scheme killed himself with his rifle, police said Friday.<br>
<br>
<br>
Investigators said Jimmy Rowland, 36, was found with a gunshot wound in his chest Thursday, four days after he left home telling his wife he needed to get away to think.<br>
<br>
Bedford County coroner Aubrey Richards ruled the death a suicide.<br>
<br>
Rowland, a former manager at Tyson's Shelbyville plant, was indicted Dec. 11 on federal charges of conspiring to smuggle illegal immigrants to work at company plants in nine states. He was free on a $100,000 bond and faced trial next February.<br>
<br>
A federal prosecutor has said the maximum possible sentence for any defendant convicted on all 36 counts would be 395 years in prison.<br>
<br>
"I knew he was having his ups and downs but didn't know he was this depressed," said Doug Trant, Rowland's attorney. "This is one of the worst tragedies I've ever known."<br>
<br>
Authorities said Rowland had been working as a hospital nurse. His body was found in the bed of his pickup truck, parked in a wooded pasture.<br>
<br>
Rowland is survived by his wife and two sons.<br>
<br>
