Former Rooter Rite workers recall deceit by boss

I'm sorry he's a man with a guilty conscience I mean when you're having to scam people out of thousands of dollars that they work hard for I mean it's a bad situation for everybody truly to see if they're hard tonight he comes clean to customers about his former employer a plumbing company I just had to get out my chest it was just two weeks ago we told you about a Salem man who thinks he has proof a plumber was trying to take advantage of his urgent plumbing problem I'm the employee of that company warmed him about it and now our dance Hilton has another employee coming forward to apologize face-to-face and Dan you were there as he went along to apologize right and first we want to remind you our first story it hinged on this text message right here from the plumber to his employee about an underground pipe and you see right there it says break it well waiting did you see what we've uncovered now I just remember this job specifically Mike Cepeda is taking us back to the scene past this of something he's not proud of I was literally looking over my shoulder every second to see if you disappeared for one second so I could check it take a whack at this line and I eventually poked a hole through this line and had to cover it up with dirt because the guy was coming out Mike is talking about what he did in this hole in the ground and that pipe you see with the hole in it Mike says he put that hole in it I was gone and did it when the man we've come to see wasn't looking ray Thompson my boss would call me a did you did you break that right in and I would say no I mean the gentleman sitting there talking to me and I'd have to wait for him to go and run the bathroom or go and do things and take a whack at this line mike Cepeda worked for Rooter right plumbing it's also known as Salem Rooter calm it is owned by these people Khloe and Mike Lima yeah I'm sorry yeah appreciate you coming forward it was just two weeks ago when we introduced you to another one of the Leamas Rooter right employees but then he just kept calling and calling and I was like this doesn't seem right David hildog who said he was told to break a pipe at Joel Kenny's house and he goes I think they're scamming you David show Joel this text from Mike Lima that says break it when the homeowner was not around when he not outside break it when we ask Chloe Lima about the text message she said it was all about keeping the customer from being alarmed you expect me to believe that you're telling your guy to break the pipe when they're not allow they're not around to save them some sort of emotional trauma well it's unsafe as well how is it unsafe because there could be fire debris and we're also dealing with sewage well if there's flying debris shouldn't your worker have goggles and a hardhat and some sort of safety protection yes he should see if they're home he went with Mike Zepeda to another house where he says he's not proud of the nearly eight thousand dollar job on the sewer line the homeowner is Tony Marin his brother put us in touch by phone Mike Reed told to break his line yeah I mean I was told I've basically instructed to break in pieces and if you were to come out basically cover up and act like I'm still digging Mike Cepeda showed us text messages from Rudy right owner Mike Lima they read break break the line make sure to break it up another explains break that pipe as you go and if anyone stopped by to look cover it up and and I said I found it Mike said okay break it and I said how much is it all of it Mike Cepeda says he was fired for reasons he doesn't understand he and David Hildago aren't the only former Rooter right employees to come forward there's Robert Elliot yeah there was lots of stories of them being asked to do things that they didn't feel feel very good about breaking a line or telling them that more of the pipe was damaged or increasing the job from a small repair into a large repair and there's Daniel Schroeder when he asked me he's like is anybody there I told him no I'm all right we'll break that sort of line I broke it all right and then once I broke it I called him back and then he tells me we'll grab all the routes around the sewer line I'm pretty inside the sewer line so it looks like the roots are doing what broke hey hi Chloe this is Dan Tilton with KOIN 6 news channel 6 again we tried arrange in an interview with Chloe and Mike Lima to ask about the new allegations Chloe said we'd hear from her lawyer what's his name so I know who to look out for hello we didn't hear from the Leamas lawyer but this is what Chloe said the last time when we asked about David Hildago and the text message I got to tell you I don't think people are gonna buy your explanation I think people are gonna go this looks like a smoking gun that they were pulling a scam I apologized that that is what you feel but the fact of the matter is is that the repair had to be done now the Oregon construction contractors board they told me they'd be watching our story tonight each of the employees in our story they tell me they're willing to talk to the investigators I know that the CCB is already investigating two cases in Salem now as we reported my clima Chloe's husband he pled guilty in California to insurance fraud after three years of probation he got that charge expunged okay good story Dan I think now overall there needs to be some tips out there for folks what have some advice for people who are watching then when they go to hire a plumber right the man the employee has told us you make sure you get a second opinion which is really hard your toilets clogged up and you're gonna say wait a second but that's how you protect yourself get a recommendation from a friend hey I know what grabs a great plumber for great for me you can check complaints about contractors in Oregon and Washington if you go to coin calm in our story you'll see there there's links on how to do that it quit and I know you and I did both kind of our handy people man I'm always hovering over those work guys went on there but I know a lot of people can't do that right who has all day to watch yeah exactly yeah thanks Dan great information great story yeah okay Kristen now

Channel: KOIN 6

Views: 7,304

Rating: 4.927928 out of 5

Keywords: default

Id: 0HWBIJNCWYk

Length: 6min 32sec (392 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 14 2015