OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Charges now filed against a man accused of stealing and selling a woman’s prescribed medication.
Before the pandemic, Janice Crittenden called In Your Corner looking for help.
Her issues started after a former technician for an unnamed company, contracted out by Cox Communication, came to her home to fix her cable.
“I was clearing things out of my closet so he could have access to the closet,” Janice explained. “At that time, he’s standing there [and] I’m not noticing he’s looking at the top of my dresser.”
On top of the dresser was a bottle of hydrocodone. Janice says the technician, Kareem Stepanik, made an odd comment.
“He says, ‘Oh, by the way, I see that you have about $5,000 worth of money sitting on your dresser,” Janice explained. “I said what are you talking about? [He said], ‘Oh your prescriptions, you have a lot of prescriptions.'”
Soon after, Janice says the bottle disappeared, which led her to text Stepanik later that night.
The technician allegedly confessed, saying in text messages, “I did disrespect you,” and “Hope you’ll forgive me.”
In texts shared with KFOR, Stepanik appears to allude that some of the pills were sold and the rest were left outside her house.
Janice says she found the bottle on her front porch, dumped in a pot beneath the baby Jesus in her Christmas nativity scene.
“So, I’m thinking, ‘Woah, this is pretty bad. What kinda person was this I just had in my house?'” she said.
Cox Communication issued the following statement in December:
“There is an ongoing investigation with one of our vendors out of Edmond, and the police have been working directly with that vendor.”
Edmond police would not give the name of the company Stepanik formerly worked for, but said they would be recommending charges.
Nearly four months after our story aired, there’s finally an update for Janice.
Stepanik is charged in Oklahoma County, facing counts of distribution and larceny of controlled drugs.
Janice, though, is left waiting for answers and an arrest.
“That’s why I wanted to put it on the news,” she said. “Let people know, ‘What if he’s already done this, but nobody’s turned him in?'”
