Memphis, TN -- Eyewitness News Everywhere uncovers complaints against a Mid-South contractor who also serves as a pastor.
     
Some customers of Hermon Gillum complain he ripped them off for hundreds -- evens thousands of dollars -- for work he either didn't do or left incomplete.

Chandra Pearson of Cordova says she paid Gillum $625 back in April 2008, to build a small fence on one side of her house.  She claims he put up five posts and never returned to finish the job.  She spent weeks trying to reach him and couldn't.

Debbie Rosser tells a similar story.  But she says Gillum "never even opened a tool box" after she paid him $800 for home repairs, four years ago.

Rosser says Gillum, who is also the pastor at COGIC Faith Pentecostal Temple in Frayser, used his faith to gain her trust.  "He spewed God a lot and that made me feel wholesome because I'm a Christian myself," she says.

Eyewitness News Everywhere reached Gillum by phone Tuesday, June 24, 2008.  He refused to talk about the Pearson case because it's still pending in court.  He also said he couldn't remember Debbie Rosser, despite a $1200 judgment she won against him in civil court.

Gillum refused requests to have the conversation recorded and accused  Eyewitness News Everywhere of exploiting the situation for TV.  "All you're doing is trying to publicize your station ... You're trying to make other people look bad for your own profit."

The Better Business Bureau of the Mid-South lists eight complaints against Gillum in the past 36 months.  His standing with the BBB is "unsatisfactory," according to the website.  He has not responded to five of the complaints against him for contract or service repair issues.