Boss's voice mail records worker's alleged drug deal

A Des Moines man is accused of unwittingly leaving his boss a voice-mail message documenting a drug deal in which he was involved.

State records indicate that Joseph Stankiewicz was on medical leave from NAPA Auto Parts in November when he called the company's human resources director, Carolyn Miller, and left a message on her voice-mail system.

When Stankiewicz finished his message, he allegedly failed to disconnect his phone properly and Miller's voice mail continued to record everything in the vicinity of Stankiewicz's phone.

The recording captured a freewheeling, profanity-laced conversation between two men who NAPA officials concluded were Stankiewicz and a man named Donny. On the tape, the two men discuss money that one of the men owed the other for prescription narcotics. The two also discuss another trade involving 22 pills of OxyContin or Percocet, two addictive painkillers.

Miller listened to her voice mail the day after Stankiewicz left his message. After discussing the matter with the company's legal counsel, NAPA Auto Parts officials decided to fire Stankiewicz for violating a company policy that prohibits the illicit sale of drugs.

Stankiewicz said Thursday that his doctor had been prescribing him Percocet and he has a friend named Donny. But he said that while the first part of the recording was the message he left for Miller, the second part of the message involving the drug deal didn't include him.

"I don't have a clue where they got the rest of that message," he said. "And, you know, I'd have to be pretty stupid not to hang up my phone."

At a recent state hearing dealing with his request for unemployment benefits, Stankiewicz testified that Des Moines Police Detective Rahn Bjornson investigated the matter and determined there was no evidence of wrongdoing. Stankiewicz argued that NAPA officials wanted to fire him because of a recent workers' compensation claim that he filed.

Administrative Law Judge Steven Wise denied Stankiewicz's request for unemployment benefits, saying he was absolutely convinced Stankiewicz was the man heard on the recording.

"The voice sounds the same, and he begins the conversation by telling Donny he had to call his job and if (human resources) called back, to be quiet while he talked to her," Wise observed.