YORKTOWN — A Yorktown man is facing multiple federal charges after prosecutors say he used fabricated lien waivers and forged signatures to steal approximately $188,000 from a bank to fund personal expenses, including gambling.
According to a news release from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, 38-year-old Richard Turner has been federally indicted on nine counts of bank fraud.
The indictment stems from a professional agreement in March 2025, when a healthcare company in Muncie hired Turner’s business, Turner Remodeling LLC, to oversee an expansion and renovation project.
To finance the construction, the healthcare company secured a construction loan of approximately $785,225 from a commercial bank. Under the strict terms of the loan agreement, the bank would only release portions of the funds to Turner after he submitted official lien waivers. These waivers serve as legal certification that the general contractor has successfully paid subcontractors for specialized services, such as plumbing and electrical work, that were not performed by the primary remodeling company.
Fabricated Waivers and Forged Signatures
Federal officials allege that Turner systematically bypassed these protocols by submitting falsified lien waivers to the lending bank. The documents falsely claimed that five separate subcontractors had completed specialized work on the healthcare facility that they never actually performed. Turner is also accused of forging the subcontractors’ signatures on the documents to ensure the bank released the cash.
Instead of paying for project labor and materials, federal investigators state that Turner redirected the fraudulent payouts toward his own personal expenses, including gambling.
“In total, (Turner) is accused of stealing $188,000 through the submission of nine fraudulent lien waivers,” the U.S. District Court’s release stated.
The case is currently being investigated by the FBI Muncie office. If convicted on the bank fraud charges, Turner’s final sentence will be determined by a federal district court judge.
