SALISBURY — North Hills Christian School administration sent a check to their contractor for construction work currently underway on campus, but it never arrived. Instead, it was cashed by an unknown individual with no connection to the contractor.

According to North Hills Executive Director Maria Lowder, the school mailed the $145,000 check to Vertex Construction, a Salisbury-based business.

The envelope containing the check was mailed through the Salisbury Post Office.

Lowder said that the Salisbury Police Department told her the check was stolen out of Charlotte, where the distribution and sorting facility is located.

Whoever obtained the check was able to cash it at a Regent Bank in Charlotte — North Hills banks with First Horizon.

Lowder said the signature on the back of the check was from a person who had no connection with Vertex. The incident is currently under investigation by fraud specialists.

Unlike some check-washing schemes that have been reported by the Salisbury Post in recent months, the check from North Hills was not doctored in any way. The payee line and the amount were the same as when school officials drafted it.

“It wasn’t a scenario where you see them change the name,” Lowder said. “I don’t know how it made it through.”

Lowder also said that authorities told her they had not seen a check scheme of that magnitude.

“They see stolen checks all the time but nothing as material as this,” Lowder said.

Lowder and the administration at North Hills are hoping to get a provisional credit from the bank. The school still owes Vertex for construction. Lowder said they can still pay the company, but she looks forward to having the money returned.

“I don’t foresee the bank not making us whole,” Lowder said. “We are just working through the legal steps.”