Sheriff Romero grew up locally in White Pine Bay, OR and was friends with the grandson of the original owner of the Seafairer Motel, Keith Summers. After Norma Bates purchased the Seafairer, which she renamed Bates Motel, Summers disappeared. In turn, Romero became very suspicious of the Bates family.The Sheriff is aware of the local drug trade and evidently accepts that it fuels the local economy. That does not mean he doesn't have a line to cross because apparently he draws the line on the sex slave trade, even though his friend Keith Summers and his own deputy Zack Shelby were involved. He killed Jake Abernathy, the third partner in the gruesome ring just to finish the ring off.