Three Bay City, Michigan men have been indicted by a federal grand jury for the mishandling of asbestos at a converted former church that is set to house a branch of the Bay City Academy for the upcoming school year.

According to an article in the Bay City Times, two of the men – Roy C. Bradley Sr. and Gerald A. Essex – worked together to convert the former church in time for the charter school to take possession for the 2013-2014 school year. During the process, the two “knowingly failed to remove and cause the removal of all regulated asbestos-containing material from that facility in accordance with the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants,” the indictment says.

The third man arraigned on the charges was Rodolfo Rodriguez, a carpenter who had also been working on the renovations. He has been charged with single counts of tampering with witnesses, victims or informants, and making false declarations to a grand jury. The former is a 20-year felony, reports the newspaper.

Prosecutors allege that Rodriguez “deliberately made false statements regarding the amount of asbestos-containing material that had been removed from the church and gave misleading statements as to the identities of those doing the removal.”

The new Bay City Academy is one of three in the city. Owner Steve Ingersoll, an optometrist, said he was shocked by the charges involving the renovations as he believed everything was in order and all work was being done according to code.

“It’s a surprise in that we’ve had the usual regulatory inspections and whatnot related to all aspects of environmental issues from the start of construction, through construction and after construction and each year thereafter,” he said. “There’s never been a test that showed any sort of problem. Environmentally, the building is fine and always has been.”

“The allegation is that apparently some of [Bradley’s] workers encountered asbestos, but that doesn’t seem right because it should have all been removed by the time the guys got on the site,” Ingersoll said, adding that he believed Bradley hired an asbestos contractor to remove any harmful materials, which can cause mesothelioma if inhaled.