With arrest of owner of roofing firm, former employee tries to make good on some of his promises

With the arrest of Rico Romero, owner of Above and Beyond Roofing, on fraud charges, a former employee is trying to make whole some of the homeowners left in the lurch when Above and Beyond collected their money but failed to deliver.

Thousands of dollars, multiple complaints and a roofer charged with fraud

Brantley Blanchard was one of Above and Beyond's satisfied customers.

A retired accountant, Blanchard was so pleased with his new roof that he decided on a second career, working for Romero as a salesman. Months later, his accounting background raised flags. So he says he stopped collecting deposits and started his own roofing company to finish jobs where Above and Beyond did not. He says he's spent more than $50,000 of his own money.

"Did I have a legal obligation? No. Not in any way, shape or form, but I felt like I had a moral and ethical obligation and that it served the community," Blanchard said.

Romero surrendered to authorities in Union County Monday afternoon, and he has a court appearance scheduled for Wednesday. He refused to talk to 5 On Your Side since his arrest.

Last week, Romero said, "I know it looks really, really bad like I've stolen people's money and I've ran off with it. That's not the case. I've been trying to pay them back as I'm hearing of them."

Blanchard believes the business just got away from Romero.

"I think he was young and inexperienced in so far as running a business is concerned," he said. "I think it grew faster than he anticipated, and he was in situation to where he was making more money than he ever anticipated making, and as a result of that, he mismanaged the cash. I don't think it was anything malicious on his part at all."