Lowell, Indiana woman charged with 42 felonies for allegedly faking expungements, stealing money – USFTB

Indiana State Police said a woman is now facing 42 felony charges for creating fake expungement orders and stealing money from victims who thought they were clients at the law firm where she worked.

Indiana State Police said Heather Anne Textor, 41, of Lowell, Indiana, has been charged with 42 counts of fraud, forgery and counterfeiting, and three misdemeanors for fraud and theft, for a multi-year scheme in which she would take cash from people seeking legal help getting their criminal records expunged and then providing falsified and forged documents of expungements that never actually happened.

State police said Textor worked at the front desk of the law firm Weiss, Schmidgall and Hires, P.C. in Merrillville, Indiana, and was typically the first point of contact for potential clients. According to police and prosecutors, Textor would take cash as downpayment for the firm’s services from victims seeking to have some sort of criminal charge expunged from their record. Police emphasized expungement services are common and can apply to anything from non-violent criminal charges to traffic violations.

“There are lots of reasons to want that,” said Sgt. Glen Fifield, public information officer for Indiana State Police.

Police say after taking the cash, Textor would give a receipt to the victim and provide documents that appeared to show their record had been expunged. Those documents were forged, police and prosecutors said, and included forged judge’s signatures, fake courtrooms, and listed attorneys who had never met or contracted with the clients.

Police said Textor would give the victims receipts from a book separate from the law firm’s computerized client system; if anyone working at the firm were to look up these victims’ names, police said, they would find no record of them in their systems.

The firm had no idea that the scheme was happening, police said. They emphasized that the firm is not under investigation and has been cooperating with the investigation.

“It’s a very fine law firm, very ethical law firm, and they certainly had no knowledge until it was brought to their attention,” said Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter.

At least 40 victims have been identified so far, police said.

Textor began working at the firm in 2017, according to police. Police said they became aware of the scheme in Nov. 2023, when an individual became suspicious of the expungement documents he had been given after going to purchase a firearm. When the gun shop ran a background check, they discovered a conviction that prohibited him from buying the gun, even though he had documentation of expungement. Police said that same man had tried to apply for a job a couple years before and was notified they wouldn’t hire him because of the same violation; he provided the expungement documents to them and they hired him, preventing the fraud from being caught earlier.

Police said Textor had CashApp and PayPal accounts in the law firm’s name and used them to deposit money into her personal bank account. They said if her victims became suspicious and started to question their services or create problems for her, Textor would text them from her own personal phone, give them false information about the attorneys on their case, or “a multitude of different lies” to string them along. Police noted several victims they found had kept those text message exchanges.

Police said Textor kept this scheme going over the course of approximately five years. The amounts of money, often paid in cash, were relatively small, police said, ranging from about $800 to $1,500 on average, but that several victims they found had gone to jail because of her actions.

Police said at least two people had thought their driving records had been expunged, and had been given false documents with forged signatures, only to be pulled over and discover they had warrants out of their arrest because they missed court appearances relating to the charges they believed had been expunged.

“This was not a good person,” Fifield said. “This person a had no care for the victims she was taking advantage of. It was all about her.”

Indiana State Police said they are actively looking for other people who may have been a victim of this scheme; they said of the victims they have already identified did not even realize their documents were fraudulent, or that they had been victims.

Among the felony charges Textor faces are five counts of fraud against a financial institution, 13 counts of forgery, two counts of counterfeiting, five counts of fraud and seven counts of fraud with enhancing circumstances. The three misdemeanors are one count of misdemeanor fraud and two counts of misdemeanor theft.

Carter said she was arrested Thursday and made her first appearance in court the same day. Bail was set at $150,000, and she will need to pay bond of 10%, or $15,000, to be released. Carter said as of Friday morning, she was still at the Lake County Jail. She is next due in court on Oct. 20 for a bail hearing.

CBS News Chicago reached out to the law firm Textor worked, who declined our request for an interview and said they have no comment at this time.

Investigators believe there may be additional victims who still think their records were successfully expunged. Anyone who believes they may have been affected is asked to contact Indiana State Police.