He Crossed the Line

Chapter 6 -- "I'll fix you good!"

We continued our discussion. First, I asked if LaTonya had some responsibility for human resources issues with Smith Electronics. I learned that, as controller, she had accountability for the payroll system, benefits management and administration, and gave direction to an hourly employee at the plant who handled benefits and personnel records. As a result, she had been involved in various employee issues and employee complaints. I sought LaTonya's take on each of the individuals whose names had turned up in my investigation relating to the 'I'll fix ya' threat.

"I heard about a telephone complaint from one of my phone conversations with Patrick," LaTonya explained between bites, adding," but I never heard the actual recording. At that time, we were waist-deep in the acquisition issues and I had little time to focus on some unhappy employee's rant. My input wasn't sought, and I had enough on my plate at the time that I didn't pursue it. Was it really a threat?"

"There was a voice mail message left at O'Rielly Electronics headquarters. HR manager Jennifer receives those messages, and she brought them upstairs to the O'Riellys and left them with the executive secretary. The message was left after the company had announced the closing and said something to the effect of 'you want me to fix things, I'll fix you good, you damn Yankee.' So yes, I would consider it to be a threat. There is a reference to fixing things,....do you have any idea who might be involved in fixing things?"

LaTonya thought for a moment, and then mentioned the names that I already had identified as my persons of interest, facilities engineer McMillan, set-up man Billy-Bob, and maintenance mechanic Duffy. Then, she described her experience in the plant, saying, "During one of my trips to the plant to set up the new accounting package, mechanic Duffy got into a heated argument with a production supervisor, and I had to step in and intercede. He didn't take kindly to my presence in the plant."

"What do you mean, 'didn't take kindly to your presence?'  What happened?"

" He was arguing with another supervisor about a repair, I don't know if it was assigning blame for the problem, or when to do the repair, but it was not a constructive resolution to the problem. Voices were rising, it sounded threatening, so I stepped in to break it up and he started in on me. But I'm a big girl, and I don't take no guff from anybody. I shamed them for arguing on the floor and then got them into the production office behind closed doors to sort it out."

I asked if, since she had experienced some sexually-oriented queries from Sean, did she know if any other females had similar experiences with him.

"Well, there was one female supervisor in the plant; she was a bit of a prankster, always joking around, flirting with the guys. She'd laugh at the dirty jokes and she would just as likely be the one telling the dirty jokes. She'd curse with the best of them. 'fuck this...fuck that,' One time when I was working on the cost accounting package in the production office, she comes in and says to the plant manager, 'who do I gotta fuck to get a new crimping machine.'' LaTonya paused for effect, with just a little curl showing on her lips. "You know, I like a good joke just like the next gal. But there's some stuff you keep between us girls and not share in mixed company."

I kept my composure, asking "do you know if this lady supervisor filed a sexual harassment complaint.?"

"Apparently the girl who knows no limits, actually had some limits," LaTonya replied. "This came up during the acquisition period and I had my hands full with acquisition and benefits issues, you know, integrating our data into the Chicago system. Mr. Smith said to pass it on to Chicago, so I forwarded it to Patrick, who was my primary contact during that period."