The owner of a North Carolina roofing company is under suspicion of fraud after he allegedly accepted payment from nine different homes for roofing work that he never fulfilled.
34-year-old Ricardo Romero is the owner of Above and Beyond Roofing in Raleigh, NC. Over the past year his company has had complaints filed against it due to customer claims that they contracted Above and Beyond to work on their roofs and after the payment was collected up front the work was never started.
The North Carolina Department of Insurance has been investigating the practices of Above and Beyond and they reported that they have noted a pattern where the company allegedly sent out sales representatives providing free consultations after hailstorms in search of new clients.
One of the salesmen that people said they had worked with regarding their roofing needs allegedly spoke with the clients’ insurance companies directly and collected the checks distributed by them after the work was approved. The checks were they deposited into the Above and Beyond Roofing bank account.
The Department of Insurance reported that they believe around $70,000 was accepted from nine different clients and they have not located any documentation showing that Above and Beyond had placed orders for the items needed to perform the work they were contracted to do.
The clients have reported that the jobs were never started and they were unable to successfully negotiate with anyone from the company, which is now out of business, when they tried to call and find out about the services they paid for since their contracts did not contain dates for which the jobs were scheduled to be completed.
Romero was arrested on Monday and he has been accused of nine felony counts of obtaining property by false pretense, and nine misdemeanor counts of failing to work after being paid. He was released from custody after posting the amount ordered for his bond.
When Romero was contacted and asked for a statement regarding the charges and he allegedly said that though he knows it must look like he was trying to steal from people that is not the case, and that as soon as he knew about the incidents he began trying to financially rectify them. Two of the nine people who filed complaints reportedly confirmed that he did give them their money back. Romero said that he plans to continue paying people back as he finds out about them and that they should all be taken care within the next couple of weeks.
If you or someone you love is suspected of fraud, contact Orange County criminal defense lawyer Staycie R. Sena at (949) 477-8088 for a consultation now.