Money owed to Sandpiper Bay workers could be caught in 'legal dispute'

We're digging deeper into why some workers that did renovation projects at Sandpiper Bay Resort in Port St. Lucie haven't gotten paid .

Court records said as of April 18, there's $4,805,134.55 that are owed to the companies that employ those workers.

So where's the money?

Carlos Garcia worked on projects at Sandpiper Bay. Last month he reached out to WPTV looking for help, saying he's owed $25,000 from his company.

He protested outside the resort for 24 days, after he said the contractor in charge, Michael Garofalo with Capitol Building Group, stopped paying subcontractors.

The owner of Sandpiper Bay, Keith Lee, issued this statement saying in part, "It’s very unfortunate hard working folks did not get paid along the chain of parties that received money."

Lee said he paid Garofalo nearly $17,000,000— part of which should have gone to the workers.

WPTV reporter visited two addresses in Boca Raton listed for Capitol Building Group, and Garofalo's home address in Sebastian, and got ahold of Garofalo's attorney Jerald Cureton.

"How come the money that was given to Mike didn't go straight to paying the workers?" asked WPTV reporter Joel Lopez.

"It did, there wasn't enough money received from Keith Lee to pay them all," said Cureton.

Cureton filed a construction lien against Sandpiper Bay Resort in April, saying the resort owes his client $9,000,000.

$4 million for Garofalo and $5 million to pay what's owed to the workers.

"We're preparing a complete audit of every penny spent," said Cureton.

However, court records show that lien was dismissed, because Capitol Building Group didn't show up for a court date in May to explain their position.

"How come Mike didn't show up on that date where it was then dismissed?" asked Lopez.

"We never knew about it," said Cureton.

He said they heard about the dismissal from WPTV's report on Tuesday and said they're preparing to file a lawsuit on the lien.

"My client put his own money into the tune of possibly half a million dollars that he put in to keep the job going," said Cureton.

Lopez reached back out to Sandpiper owner Keith Lee but he did not answer.

Cureton was asked for proof of paperwork or documents but said he has to check with his client.

"For the construction workers still waiting for their money what would be the best answer for them?" asked Lopez.

"We're going to get the construction lien going, if it has been dismissed, we're going to reinstate it," said Cureton.

Sandpiper Bay said they too are preparing to go to court.

But they have a new contractor and are hoping to get to a resolution for the workers.