Fort Wayne woman accused of impersonating attorney, taking nearly $35,000 from client 

A Fort Wayne woman was charged with fraud after falsely representing herself as a licensed federal attorney to an acquaintance who said she took nearly $35,000 from him.  

Katherine Jackson was charged Tuesday with one count of felony fraud for actions she allegedly committed over a three-year period beginning in May 2023. 

The victim in the case told police he was seeking a federal lawsuit against the City of Fort Wayne Neighborhood Code for unwarranted fees when Jackson informed him she was a federal attorney and could take his case. 

Jackson met with the man and his wife on several occasions, telling them she passed a law exam and even provided them with her test scores, according to court documents. She also told them she works for two different law offices in Fort Wayne and Chicago. 

While Jackson represented the couple at one code enforcement hearing in 2024, she did not attend any other hearing between then and now. She also told them they didn’t need to attend any hearings, though there is a $300 fine for each missed hearing, according to court documents. 

Over the course of her alleged representation, Jackson requested payments for things such as audits, depositions and emails, which were made via checks made out to Jackson and credit card payments that were ran through Jackson’s semi-fraudulent business, Full Circle Auto.  

Other payments were made in person with cash.  

In November 2025, Jackson hired the couple’s granddaughter as a “legal assistant” and paid her in checks. The final paycheck, however, came from a closed account, court documents state.  

Other expenses Jackson allegedly charged included a $5,000 fee for an agreement with a media consulting firm, and expenses for the hiring of an out-of-town real estate consultant, which included money for the consultant’s flight, hotel room and consulting fees. According to court documents, Jackson provided a counterfeit form to sign for the media consulting agreement and a copy of the real estate consultant’s C.V.  

Investigators later learned that Jackson hired the media consulting firm for an unrelated case and had later altered her agreement with the company in order to add one of the victim’s names. The real estate consultant told investigators he had never heard of Jackson or the couple.  

Jackson told them that their case was finally going to trial in Fort Wayne on June 8. She gave the couple a docket number but, upon arriving to the courthouse, they discovered that no case had ever been filed on their behalf.  

Jackson ceased all contact after this, according to court documents.  

Investigators later contacted the two law firms Jackson said she represented. They learned that while at one time, the firms represented her in separate cases, she is not a licensed attorney and was never an employee. Investigators also could not find her information in attorney registration platforms in Indiana or Illinois.  

In late July, Jackson was charged with felony fraud in a separate matter. In that case, a part-time employee at one of the law firms Jackson claimed to work told police that he was in the market to purchase a vehicle when Jackson told him she had a car lot named Full Circle Auto. The lot was allegedly affiliated with Fort Wayne-based Prevision Auto Repair.

Jackson then told the man that she has an auto dealers license and could purchase the vehicle at a better price than the victim could. He accepted Jackson’s help and gave her information about the vehicle he wanted to purchase.

He paid Jackson $8,000 to purchase the vehicle and obtained insurance for it, according to court documents. But despite telling the victim she had purchase the vehicle, Jackson never gave it to her, stating that there was a delay in receiving the vehicle because of tariffs and needed repairs.

At one point, Jackson allegedly asked the car shopper for more money. Eventually, he contacted the original seller of the vehicle and learned that it had already been sold to someone else in a different state. When asked, Jackson would not return the victim’s money, according to court documents.

The cases are State of Indiana v. Katherine M. Jackson, 02D05-2607-F6-000992, and State of Indiana v. Katherine M. Jackson, 02D04-2608-F6-001170.