In August 2024, a year-old Reddit social media post titled “Lexington Red (Flags): Lexington Blue & The Strangest Day of Training in My Life” grabbed the attention of Brad Pagel, owner of Lexington Blue.
An anonymous poster discussed Pagel and detailed “an incredibly strange orientation at his company” in the summer of 2017.
Pagel lectured the trainees on “the Rothschild family, the Illuminati, the ‘New World Order,’ his weight loss and his Tinder profile,” the Reddit poster said.
“I learned absolutely nothing about roofing or sales.”
This post, and the subsequent comments from other former employees and Lexington Blue customers, incensed Pagel.
Immediately, he ordered company employees to defend him, according to texts obtained by the Herald-Leader.
Pagel also threatened harm to the Reddit post author, who later described the roofing company owner as a “genuine psychopath and deeply unstable, and apparently dangerous.”
“I’m trying to get everyone to get Reddit accounts and go to war on this post right now,” Pagel texted to employees, including David Hodgson.
At some point, Pagel figured out who wrote the post, a former job candidate named Andrew Stringer.
In addition to ordering Lexington Blue employees to rebut any criticism online, Pagel “wanted us to find out where Stringer lived, and to (expletive) him up because he’s the one who brought all this to light,” Hodgson said.
“I never tried to (find him). … I was getting paid to be a sales lead, not do dumb stuff like that.”
But someone apparently did find Stringer.
Stringer told Herald-Leader he was contacted by the girlfriend of a Lexington Blue employee who wanted to warn him about Pagel.
“She had text messages between her boyfriend and Brad Pagel. He felt like Pagel was soliciting him to harm me,” Stringer said.
Among the messages, shared with the Herald-Leader, is one that says, “He’s gonna end up in the back of a van if he doesn’t take his article down.”
Stringer obtained a temporary restraining order against Pagel in September 2024.
Fayette Circuit Court records paint a vivid picture, confirmed to the Herald-Leader by Stringer, who also said he is cooperatingwith federal officials in an ongoing investigation of Pagel.
“I am in fear for my life and the safety of those close to me,” Stringer hand-wrote in his petition to the court.
He said Pagel began sending messages in August 2024 saying, “WE FOUND YOU” and “YOU CAN’T HIDE ANYMORE! IT’S OVER FOR YOU.”
Many messages also contained the poster’s personal information, including the name of his significant other, and other threats:
“‘You have very little time to take down your story about Brad Pagel and Lexington Blue,’” according to the court records.
“‘We know where you work, where you live, what you drive, what you own. … We can do this the easy way or the hard way.’”
In an interview with the Herald-Leader earlier this month, Stringer called Pagel “unhinged” and said he began sleeping with a gun to be prepared to protect his family.
Stringer also shared his concerns with other online critics of Lexington Blue, including Lexington homeowner Debbie Kirsch Coe, who had detailed difficulties involving her roof on such social media forums as Reddit and Nextdoor.
“We’ve spoken before about Lexington Blue,” he wrote to Coein a message shared with the Herald-Leader.
“I’m taking the time today to warn anyone I’ve EVER talked about with them, before I submit a general warning to the community at large. The owner is threatening my life, and possibly to hurt my family. I recalled having spoken to you, so I felt it was responsible to let you know to be careful dealing with those people,” Stringer said.
“These people aren’t just a sketchy business. The owner is a genuine psychopath and deeply unstable, and apparently dangerous.”
Pagel has not responded to multiple requests for comment. Neither has his Frankfort attorney, Philip Lawson.
Pagel has since shuttered his failed roofing company and disappeared, leaving debts and lawsuits behind.
The Kentucky Attorney General’s office is investigating and a potential class-action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Lexington Blue customers who never received their roofs after paying thousands in deposits.
Why is Stringer coming forward now?
In an interview with the Herald-Leader in May, Stringer said it is important to him that what happened “comes to light.”
“This is not OK,” he said. “Nobody deserves to go through this, and I’m going to do my bit in making sure that this never happens again.”
Source – https://www.kentucky.com/news/business/article307356246.html