Prosecutors filed criminal charges against the company hired to demolish three schools destroyed by the 2011 tornado in Joplin.

Officials with Urban Metropolitan Development of Atlanta, Georgia say they are stunned by charges and blame a third-party payroll contractor for any alleged compliance problems with Missouri’s prevailing wage laws on public works projects.

The company, and UMD project manager Jennifer Taylor are charged with five counts each of failure to pay prevailing wage. Both UMD and Taylor were also charged with ten felony counts of forgery for allegedly altering copies of checks before submitting them to the state as proof that the company paid their workers the prevailing wage rate as required by law.

According to Attorney General Chris Koster, UMD received contracts to demolish three schools that were destroyed by the May 2011 tornado – Irving Elementary School, Old South Middle School, and Joplin High School. The public works projects come under Missouri’s prevailing wage law, which requires workers on public projects to receive no less than the prevailing hourly wage, which is set before a project begins and is based on the county and the type of work.

Felony forgery is punishable by up to seven years in prison as well as fines up to $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 for businesses. Each instance of failure to pay prevailing wage carries a fine of up to $500 or up to 6 months in prison, or both.