Full press conference: Indiana State Police detail alleged law office fraud case

Thank you for being here. My name is Sergeant Glenn Fifield. I'm the Public Information Officer for the Indiana State Police Low Post and we're here today to talk about an investigation that has taken place over the last three years that's been overseen by our Organized Crime and Corruption Unit. This investigation started in regards to a complaint about expungements and what an expungement is is an opportunity for someone to remove a possible criminal record, an arrest, A traffic citation, something like that, from their record, whether it be their driving record, their criminal history, whatever it is. And there's multiple reasons why someone may want to do that. And a couple of those reasons may be for employment opportunities, an opportunity to purchase a firearm, car insurance rates, housing opportunities, personal reputation. They just don't want it on their record anymore. And some people have turned their life around. They're not the person they used to be, and they've decided to try getting these things removed from their record. So this investigation began in November of 2023, so just shy of three years ago, when an individual became suspicious of some documentation that he had that showed that he had actually taken care of an expungement. The individual had gone to a law firm in Merrillville, Weiss, Schmidgall, and Hires in an attempt to obtain an expungement. A pattern emerged through investigative techniques that the suspect, in this case, would accept cash as a down payment for services, give the receipt of a victim, or give the victim a receipt from a receipt book, and then keep the cash. So this individual had documentation that an expungement had actually taken place when it actually had not. This first victim that reported this to our department had actually went and attempted to buy a firearm, and that's how he discovered that this had not been removed from his criminal record. During an investigation, it showed that the suspect had created a fake Cash App account and fake PayPal accounts in the law firm's name and deposited money into their personal banking account. If a victim became suspicious of activity and started to create a stink or started to make phone calls and create problems, the suspect in this case would text that individual from their phone, give false information that the attorney may not be available, that their case was held up in court, a multitude of different lies in order to string the victim along that their case was actually being adjudicated. Fortunately, several of these victims kept their text messages, which was extremely helpful in this case. This pattern of behavior was repeated dozens and dozens of times over a course of approximately five years. The suspect in this case has been arrested. Her name is Heather Ann Textor. She's 41 years old, and she's a resident here in Lake County. She resides in Lowell, Indiana. She was arrested yesterday afternoon by the Lowell Police Department on a warrant. She's currently being held at the Lake County Jail, where she's being charged with 42 felonies and three misdemeanors. Let me repeat that, 42 felonies and three misdemeanors. Of those felony charges, five are level five felony fraud against a financial institution, 13 counts of a level six forgery offense, two counts of level six counterfeiting, five counts of level six fraud, that's fraud between $750 and $50,000, seven counts of fraud with enhancing circumstances, theft between $750 and $50,000, seven counts of that level six felony, and finally three counts of fraud, level six felony. And then you have the three misdemeanors, one's for fraud, a Class A misdemeanor, and two counts of theft, which is a Class A misdemeanor. The reason we're here today is this is a significant case. Sergeant Joe White is here. He's the lead investigator on this case. It was it was it's a very detailed, intricate case. These are very complex when it comes to financial crimes. But the reason we're here today is because we believe that there are other victims out there that do not know they're victims yet. Several of the victims in this case did not realize they were victims until years later. They just assumed that their case had been adjudicated, that their criminal history or traffic tickets had been expunged, and they weren't, and they find out after the fact. The perfect example is Heather here. Her actions resulted in innocent people going to jail. What happened with this in this case was two individuals thought that their driving records had been cleared up through this expungement. They were given false documentation with forgery signatures from judges, so the judges never sign these expungements. The victims were given these documents, fully thinking that they had done the right thing in correcting their driver's licenses. They were subsequently pulled over for a traffic offense, and it was discovered that they had warrants out for their arrest for failing to appear for these traffic violations. They went to jail because of this woman and her actions. They went to jail. One went to the Lake County Sheriff's Department and had to spend an entire weekend in jail until she was able to be transferred to the county where the warrant was. This is not a good person. this person had no care for the victims that she was taking advantage of it was all about her it was all about her getting money um so with that i'll uh introduce uh bernie carter he's a prosecutor here in lake county and uh he'll go ahead and issue a few comments his what he can talk about is very restricted he's bound by uh prosecutor rules but he's going to give a few comments on this on this case thank you thank you very much good morning my name is bernard carter Lake County Prosecuting Attorney. I'll spell my name. Bernard, B-E-R-N-A-R-D. Carter, C-A-R-T-E-R. I'm the Prosecuting Attorney here in Lake County. As mentioned, I'm pretty restricted under Indiana ethics laws as far as being a prosecutor to speak in terms of the substance of the case. However, I wanted to make a couple points. First of all, she is presumed innocent. The subject in this case is presumed innocent. And until such time we were in court and the state of Indiana presents their evidence and she may be heard, it's only time that we can refer to her as the subject of these charges. Secondly, one of the things I want to point out, and it was mentioned in reference to the nature and how this happened, that there was a number of judges and a number, perhaps at the very least one or two attorneys that were used in these situations they had no knowledge whatsoever of this activity until it was pointed out to them by the investigators they had no knowledge whatsoever if you read the and I'll furnish the affidavit probable cause as well as the information but if you notice in the information in the affidavit probable cause. They were basically forged. The judges' names were forged. The courtrooms that they worked under was forged. And there's a number of different judges and magistrates. You'll see names mentioned in there. They had no knowledge and they're under no scrutiny by this investigation or by my office. In addition to that, the one law firm that has made significant mention in the affidavits had no knowledge whatsoever. It's a very fine law firm, very ethical law firm and they certainly had no knowledge until it was brought to their attention now as mentioned also I'm going to talk a little bit about the the sentencing ranges the level five of ranges have a maximum of six years in the Indiana Department of Corrections and there's five level five charges the level and there's multiple multiples of level one of I'm sorry level sixes which is a felony and has a maximum sentence of anywhere between six months in jail or two and a half years. And then the misdemeanor charges are Class A misdemeanors. In Indiana, we have Class A, Class B, and Class C. In this case, it's Class A misdemeanors and it's a maximum sentence of one year in the Indiana Department of Corrections. She was taken into custody on the 14th, in the evening of the 14th. She was brought in before the court yesterday morning for initial hearing. And essentially, our initial hearings, basically, she's advised as to the nature of the charges. She's also, at that time, if it's a bailable offense, and this is a bailable offense, she's given a bail. Her bail is $150,000, and in Indiana, that's 10% of that. So she would have to pay close to $15,000 to be released. As of this date, this morning, I just checked when I was driving over here, She's still in jail, Lake County Jail, and she has not been released. Her next hearing date is October the 20th. At that time, it's a bail hearing, and they will make a determination as to the amount of bail, whether she can post it or not, as well as whether or not she has legal representation. At this point, I think that's about all I can say in reference to this matter, but she is charged with 42 felonies and three misdemeanors. I'd like to thank the investigative team in this matter. A very thorough job. You're talking about almost a five-year period of time, three-year period of time of an active investigation into this matter. And it was a lot of information for them to gather, double-check, talk to witnesses, making statements, and things of that nature. So the Indiana State Police did an excellent job in bringing these charges. And thank you, Prosecutor Carter. WE DID WANT TO SHARE that the Indiana State Police appreciates the COOPERATION OF THE LAW FIRM AGAIN THEY WERE EXTREMELY HELPFUL THEY DID NOT HAVE ANY KNOWLEDGE THAT THEIR EMPLOYEE WAS DOING THIS THEY HAD NO ONE NOT NO KNOWLEDGE OF THESE VICTIMS EVEN EXISTED UNTIL WE BROUGHT IT TO THEIR ATTENTION AND THEY WERE EXTREMELY COOPERATIVE AND IN NO WAY DOES THIS SHOULD THIS REFLECT NEGATIVELY ON THEM EITHER THERE ARE APPROXIMATELY THAT WE KNOW OF 40 SOME victims I believe in this case there are I think just over a dozen victims mentioned in the probable cause affidavit leading to these charges I think we'll open up to questions at this time if anybody has any the amount of theft was not extensive you know she was charging retainer fees anywhere between $800 to $1,500. I think the maximum amount of one victim's loss, if I recall correctly, is about $2,000. So she was mostly taking what she would consider. She would charge it. She would tell these folks, hey, the retainer fee is $800. The retainer fee is $1,000. And most of these folks would come back to the law firm with cash. No, our suspect was working the front window of the law firm. So when the folks would call the law firm seeking legal advice or legal representation for these expungements, she was working the front window. So most often than not, anybody who walked through the door, she was the first point of contact for the entire law firm. And we want to point out, if I could point out, this could have happened to any law firm. Not just this one. They weren't actively out seeking these individuals. These individuals came into this law firm innocent enough trying to do the right thing with their case, thinking they were doing the right thing, and this individual took it upon herself not to notify the attorneys that these people had even walked in the door. The attorneys in this office had no idea these people had ever entered the door until Sergeant White brought it to their attention. Michelle? I was going to say, I know that we should go to Bill Bowles for that service. They specialize in this area, too, very heavily. so that's why any of them went there yeah and and really any any law firm uh can't can do this and i believe this law firm in particular has got a very good reputation with our expungement unit down in Indianapolis and that's when it was brought to our attention that's raised a couple of red flags Am I correct Joe? he said there may be more victims out there so do you have to go through every single person that is a client of this law firm over the last five years how do you so so i think to answer that was if they're a client their stuff is being taken care of PROPERLY BECAUSE THE ATTORNEYS ARE INVOLVED IN THOSE CASES THESE ARE INDIVIDUALS THAT THOUGHT AN ATTORNEY WAS HANDLING HER CASES WITH THE ATTORNEY HAD NO IDEA SO THIS WAS ALL DONE UNDER THE TABLE THERE WAS THE RECEIPTS THAT THESE INDIVIDUALS WERE GIVEN WERE GIVEN OUT OF RECEIPT BOOK THIS ISN'T A PROBLEM CAUSE RECEIPT BOOK THAT WAS COMPLETELY SEPARATE FROM WHAT SHE WAS USING FOR LEGITIMATE CLIENTS SO AND IT NEVER THIS IS ALSO IN WITHIN THE AFFIDAVIT PROBLEM cause, I'll mention this. It never, oh, I'm sorry. Within the affidavit of probable cause, we do outline that the law firm has a computerized system, which most law firms do. And she never entered those names in the system. So as an attorney in the office or a paralegal in the office, they try to pull up that name, it would never come up because they're not a client. So technically, they were never a client. This is very important. They were never a client of law firm well the unfortunate part about that is we would never know who walked through the door we have one of the the our victims he he believed the expungement that he had in his hands were was legitimate he was he was he he didn't have a purpose to use that expungement until he applied for a job that required a background check so he applied for a job that required a background check And that potential employer said, we can't hire you because of your criminal record. And he says, wait, I have this expungement right here. So he took that fraudulent expungement to the potential employer, and with that fraudulent expungement, they did hire him. He still doesn't know that it's false until two years later when he tries to purchase a handgun. So he tries to purchase a handgun, and of course the gun shop owner has to do a criminal background check through CJIS, and that returns that he's a prohibited person so that then he starts questioning the expungement he has in his hands goes to the law firm and says hey i have this criminal expungement but the gun shop is telling me i can't purchase a gun and then the law firm that they had first time they'd ever seen him first time they'd ever seen the expungement that also had a forged judge's signature on it so we will never know who was in the law firm and we don't know who to look for because they were the buck stopped at her and she was hired I'm going to try to 2017 and and again we want to talk about the law firm and how helpful they were as soon as I brought this to their attention she was immediately fired and and rightly so that would have been this came to light light I was summoned down to our state police expungement unit in November of 2023 I after I interviewed the first victim of this I knew pretty pretty early on that the law firm had an issue with an employee and I went to the law firm just a couple of weeks later after interviewing the first victim and spoke attorney hires and she that was on I can't I can't give you specific dates but after I spoke to her she she spoke with the other attorneys at the law firm and two days later she was terminated according to attorney hires she didn't protest her termination or ask the reason why yes yes she had she was not a paralegal she didn't have any type of a law degree you know some of these I mean she's practicing law without a license you know she's she's at the front sliding window talking to the general public as they walk in and if there are if you feel you could be a potential victim here sergeant white definitely wants to talk to you you can contact him here at the state police post leave a message and he will definitely return your phone call phone number here is two one nine six nine six six two four two again two one nine six nine six six two forward to, and he will be in contact with you. Again, we do believe there are additional victims out there. We just have to find them and get this taken care of. This is going to be an ongoing investigation. I don't believe this case is going to be closed here anytime soon. If a victim comes up, then we'll address it. How recent was the last victim that came forward? It was just a few months ago in 2025. We're learning things almost monthly here about this case. But, again, I really want to stress that our thoughts or we feel for those individuals that went to jail over this that should not have gone to jail. You know, they tried doing the right thing and got punished wrongfully. Yes? Now that it had been jailed, you guys don't know of that? I don't think so because I think if you went to jail thinking that you had an expungement, I think they would have probably brought it to somebody's attention by now, I would hope. Yeah, I don't believe it. Yeah, I don't think that that would be the case right now. Is there a way for these, you know, victims or potential victims, how do you rectify that now? Do they have to go through the process all over again? Yes. Yeah, they would have to hire an attorney to try fixing this problem. So really, they're right back to square one. If I could just add something about that. Again, the law firm, a lot of these folks that found out they did have a fraudulent expungement, attorney hires has been trying to make those folks righteous so she's doing her best to work with those same folks now that she knows about them she's doing her very best and has been working her very best to make those folks whole I think be careful who you hire have strict policies in place when cash money comes in and review and you know there's a level of trust and I mean every employee has every business has a level of trust with your employees to stay POLICE WE HAVE A LEVEL OF TRUST WITH OUR EMPLOYEES YOU KNOW THE NEWS THERE'S A LEVEL OF TRUST AND WHEN THAT TRUST IS VIOLATED ACTION IS TAKEN WHEN THIS LAW FIRM DID THAT LITERALLY IMMEDIATELY WHEN THEY LEARNED OF IT SO YOU KNOW THAT I THINK CONTROL BUT GOOD GOOD GOOD GOOD CONTROLS AND IN ACCOUNTABILITY ON CASH AND IN YOU KNOW IN THIS AND IF I CAN BRING THIS UP AS WELL IN THIS DAY AND AGE YOU KNOW WE'RE SEEING ALL THESE SCAMS ABOUT YOU KNOW ON YOUR PHONES AND EMAIL AND EVERYTHING ELSE THAT GOES ON BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU GIVE PEOPLE CASH EVEN THOUGH YOU GET A RECEIPT AS IT HAPPENED IN THIS CASE YOU GET A RECEIPT YOU THINK IT'S RIGHT IT MAY NOT BE RIGHT SO WHEN YOU WHEN YOU'RE DEALING WITH CASH IS A AN OPPORTUNITY THERE TO BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF YES YES THINK THINK TWICE AND DEFINITELY IT MAKE SURE THAT YOU'RE FOLLOWING UP WITH WITH IN SOMETHING LIKE THIS WITHIN IT WITH AN ATTORNEY IN person you know yeah and this person took advantage of people who may not have known the process in the system I think she targeted these individuals I think a common practice I would think in the legal field and press can probably tell me is when you hire somebody with a down payment you probably have an initial meeting with with your client I think pretty early on so you know for that not to happen I think you know she targeted these individuals of not knowing the process you know questions okay anything else thank you very much for coming there will be a news release issued out kind of summarizing everything and with along with her mugshot as well and the prosecutor's office will be emailing out the actual probable cause it's a 14 page probable cause, their public information officer will BE SENDING THAT OUT TO THE MEDIA AS WELL. ALL RIGHT. OKAY. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.