The former owner of an Indiana hotel was recently indicted by a federal grand jury for bilking more than $10 million from a credit union and several banks.

Todd Van Natta was indicted on three counts of wire fraud and 10 counts of bank fraud, according to Joseph Hogsett, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.

Van Natta, along with his father, used false bank statement and tax returns to obtain the loans, the indictment charged. In addition, Van Natta was also able to obtain more than $6 million to buy other properties, an airplane and a yacht.

In 2007, a $3.8 million loan came from the Centra Credit Union in Columbus, Ind., to purchase the River House, an upscale hotel in downtown Evansville, according to the indictment. The property was bought in May by an Evansville businessman for $475,000 and may be renovated and reopen for business in 2013, local media outlets reported.

A comment from the $1 billion Centra was not immediately available.

Van Natta's wire fraud charges came about for the January sale of the airplane he previously purchased. The company repossessed the airplane after he stopped making payments. According to the indictment, Van Natta applied for and received a $13,000 down payment and received an additional $3,000, which he transferred to an Indiana bank account.

According to Hogsett, in addition to a fine of up to $250,000, Van Natta could also receive a sentence of up to 30 years in prison for each bank fraud count and 20 years for each wire fraud count.

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Indiana Grand Jury Indicts Property Owner for Defrauding Credit Union, Banks

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