Past violations should have stopped Albert Chwedczuk from getting any public money - and therefore, from working on a student housing facility for Cooper Medical School.

He was barred from working on public contracts after past violations of the state Prevailing Wage Act with companies Ren Construction and Real Construction. But he created a new company that soon earned a $400,000 subcontract for masonry work at a Cooper dorm on South Broadway in Camden.

During that work, from 2015 to 2016, Chwedczuk did not pay prevailing wage to his employees, many of whom were undocumented immigrants, the state Attorney General’s office and Department of Labor and Workforce Development said in a news statement.

They estimated that he cheated employees out of about $155,166 in wages once obtaining the contract. He paid most employees a fraction of the prevailing wage they were owed, and others were not paid at all. Chwedczuk also sent falsified payrolls to the project’s general contractor each week.

He also told employees to lie to an investigator from the state labor department about the wages they were receiving, the statement says.

“When contractors receive taxpayer dollars for a public project, they promise to pay prevailing wages to employees for all their hard work," Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in the statement. "But this employer cheated his workers and hoarded public funds for his own enrichment. This case is a message to all employers that we will not tolerate contractors underpaying their workers and lying about it.”

“Contractors working on public projects in New Jersey must pay their workers every penny they are entitled to under the law,” Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo said.

Chwedczuk pleaded guilty on March 27 to a second-degree charge of false contract payment.

On Sept. 6, Camden County Superior Court Judge Mark Chase sentenced Chwedczuk, 45, of Toms River, to three years in state prison.

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.