KING

Marc Cox, left, and Donald Gill are stranded, thousands of miles from home.

SEATTLE - Construction workers from across the country came to the Cedar Rim Apartments in Newcastle for a major remodeling project.

They worked for weeks but were only partially paid. Now, some are stranded and taxpayers are footing some of the bill.

Donald Gill and Marc Cox are now stranded thousands of miles from home with no money, no jobs, and no way back.

The men are two of 14 construction workers who answered a Craigslist ad offering good pay and plenty of work to come refurbish apartments.

Gill hitched a ride from his home in Milwaukee with four other men coming to work on the project.

"I said now this is not a scam, you guarantee me? I guarantee you, he said. You're going to work for 6 months you have nothing to worry about. We're going to put you up," said Gill.

Gill says the contractor, United Multi-Family Construction of Texas, subcontracted another company, Integrity Builders of St. Louis.

Somehow the deal went bad and the workers were left to fend for themselves.

Gill says he worked for three weeks but was only paid for one.

Now, a month without money, he and Cox have resorted to food stamps, paid for by Washington taxpayers, to survive.

"We're working for a company called Integrity Builders. If these guys had any kind of integrity they would not have left us in this type of situation," said Gill.

And have the State of Washington foot the bill," said Cox.

The men say one of the financers of the operation is former St. Louis Rams star Mikes Jones, who saved the 2000 Super Bowl for his team with a legendary tackle on the last play of the game.

Marc Cox says Jones stopped taking his phone calls after this conversation:

"And he said, I just want to let you know, Mark, that I'm out $20,000 on this job.  And I said 'Are you home with your family eating diner, and driving your car, sleeping in your bed?' He said, 'Of course.' I said 'We're going to be homeless within hours here.'"

Cox wasn't exaggerating. The apartment owners, who have let the men stay rent-free for a month, have now posted an eviction notice.

They have until Thursday to figure something out.