Roofing Company Employees Locked Out

LANGFORD - Someone has locked the gates at Johnson Roofing's Langford office and the gate at what employees say is the sprawling Central Saanich mansion where the company's operators, Connie and Gary Johnson, live. The employees say the two cars in the driveway have not moved for days.
Court records show several liens against the property including a landscape company claiming just shy of three hundred thousand dollars in unpaid bills.

The home, complete with a $4.1 million mortgage, is registered to a numbered company owned by Bianca Di Ubaldo, Connie Johnson's mother.

Connie Johnson is an alias for Concetta Di Ubaldo. She and her friend, Rosina Theresa Raposo, are charged with several counts of fraud.

The two women are schedule to make their first appearance in a Victoria courtroom this week to face the charges.

The Central Saanich Mansion is a far cry from the new home that former Johnson Brothers employee, Julian Biggs and his fiancée purchased in Colwood just barely two months ago.

Biggs is one of more than 40 employees who lost their jobs when Johnson Brothers locked its doors on Monday without warning after reassuring employees that rumours of the company's demise were untrue.

Biggs is shocked by the closure and says Johnson Brothers owes him between two and three thousand dollars in pay.

The loss could not have come at a worse time for the young couple as they are expecting their first child in less than a month.

Biggs is philosophical about losing his job. The 24 year-old says he plans to use the opportunity to open his own company and try to salvage some of the work he says Johnson Brothers didn't finish.

"I normally do my shopping the last paycheque before Christmas which is obviously not going to happen any more. We're ready for Christmas, but it's not really about spending money. We'll make the best of it. It's still nice to be around each other…I am more worried for my fiancee. She seems to worry more than I do...This could be a better opportunity for me (rather) than working for a big company," Biggs says.

Other employees are not so optimistic with their personal tools locked behind Johnson Brothers' gates, they say it will be difficult to find work.

/A\ News has tried to find Gary and Connie Johnson at the View Royal address where Johnson Brothers is registered and the Central Saanich mansion.

The Johnsons did not answer for /A\ News Reporter Stephen Andrew or a man who arrived by car.

The man said he was to meet his mother, Rose Raposo - Connie Johnson's friend and the same Rosina Raposo charged with fraud.

When Rosina Raposo didn't show her son drove away, not wanting to answer any questions about where she or the Johnson's might be.

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