SAN ANTONIO – A woman suffering from stage four cancer now has a new, free roof over her head after a contractor took her $1,300 down payment and never came back.
Back in October on the city's Northwest side, a hailstorm damaged roofs.
Disabled neighbors Steve Vasquez and Kam Kaviani then paid the same contractor thousands of dollars to replace their hail damaged roofs. They say he ran off with their money.
Steve Flores, the owner of America's Roofing and Restoration, saw the Defenders' story on what happened and came to the rescue, giving both men free roofs.
"We saw that there was a wrong that needed to be righted and we were able to come in and take care of the situation and we're really glad we did," Flores said last year.
Then Flores and America's Roofing and Restoration went out of business after taking money from customers like Barbara Rossi in Cibolo.
"They ended up taking off with ... my money that I had given them for a deposit," Rossi said. "Never called me, never came and did my roof."
Now she has a free new roof, thanks to Stephens Roofing.
Giovanni Caballes came on a sales call, heard her situation and called his boss.
"He said, 'You go back into that house and you tell that lady that Stephens Roofing is going to put that roof on,'" Caballes said.
They got help from the Roofing Supply Group.
Now Rossi can fight her stage four lymphoma without this added stress.
"Wow, you know, here he is putting my roof on and it's like, thank you," Rossi said.
Flores, meanwhile, said he is back now after a mental breakdown and is sending letters to make amends to customers his company ripped off. And he's trying to avoid trouble with the law as well.
His lawyer, Nico LaHood, said Flores did not commit criminal acts.
"He made some poor choices," Lahood said. "He didn't handle some stresses in his life the right way. And so now he's trying to make it right."
And hopes are the cycle of runaway roofers is over.