Indiana woman faces 45 charges in alleged law office fraud case

LAKE COUNTY, Ind. - A 37-year-old Indiana woman has been arrested in a fraud case involving alleged fake court documents and payments made to a Merrillville law office.

Indiana fraud charges

Heather Ann Textor faces 45 charges, including five Level 5 felony fraud counts, 37 Level 6 felony counts and three Class A misdemeanor counts.

According to court documents, Textor worked as a legal secretary at the Law Office of Weiss, Schmidgall and Hires. Prosecutors accuse her of taking money from clients while falsely claiming she was handling expungements, driver’s license matters and other legal services.

Investigators said some clients received fake expungement orders and other documents that appeared to carry judges’ signatures. The documents allegedly were not filed with the courts.

The charges also accuse Textor of forging bond assignment forms and using a law firm check to refund money to one client without authorization.

The allegations

One client paid Textor $1,626 for an expungement, according to the probable cause affidavit. The law firm’s records showed that $626 was deposited, while the remaining $1,000 could not be found in the firm’s accounting records.

The affidavit says the investigation began after another client brought suspected fraudulent expungement documents to the Indiana State Police.

The law firm fired Textor in November 2023 after attorneys reviewed receipt books and found additional client payments that allegedly were not deposited into the firm’s bank account.