DENVER – Adams County has filed a lawsuit against seven people, including its former public works director, seeking to recover $8.6 million in an alleged scheme to bill the county for construction projects that were never completed.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Denver accuses three former county employees and four former officials at Quality Paving Co. of conspiring to bill the county for paving a road that doesn’t exist and sealing asphalt cracks on nearly six miles of a dirt road.

The Denver Post reported Friday that the lawsuit also alleges that the defendants requested money from the county to pave and repair roads in the town of Strasburg but that “virtually none of the work” was completed.

Lee Asay, the county’s former public works director named in the lawsuit, denied the allegations to the newspaper.

“It’s outrageous. It’s crazy,” he said, insisting the paving bids and payments were approved by county officials in public meetings.

Others named in the lawsuit include former Quality Paving owner and president Jerry Rhea; former company employees Dennis Coen, Heath Russo and Louie Schimpf; former county construction manager Sam Gomez; and former county road inspector Stacey Parkin.

All except Asay also face criminal charges.

Rhea’s attorney, Tony Leffert, said that when there was work done that was different than what was specified in contract, it was done at the direction of county officials. Russo’s lawyer, Manuel Solano, said his client “did not personally benefit by anything that was done.”

Attorneys for others named in the lawsuit did not return messages Thursday to The Denver Post.

KMGH-TV reported Friday that Adams County District Attorney Don Quick has discussed the allegations with federal prosecutors. The discussion was disclosed in a court document and confirmed by Quick’s spokeswoman, the station reported.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office didn’t immediately return a call from The Associated Press on Friday. A spokesman for the FBI said his agency usually doesn’t confirm or deny whether it is investigating specific cases.

Adams County commissioners voted to file the lawsuit.

“A big part of this lawsuit is the philosophy of the county commissioners when they said some time ago that they wanted the word to go out that shenanigans are not tolerated in Adams County government,” said Larry Pozner, the attorney representing the county.

The lawsuit describes Rhea and Asay as friends and accuses Asay and others of conspiring “to bilk the county of money on the Quality companies’ contracts through misbilling, overbilling and fabricating invoices and then knowingly approving them for payment.”

The lawsuit alleges that public works employees had a game to see how quickly Asay would return calls to give approval to additional expenses requested by Quality Paving.

The lawsuit is in federal court because it allegedly included the use of the U.S. Postal Service to mail fraudulent checks.