AVON, Ind. — A Hendricks County home builder will pay for writing $217 million in bad checks by spending up to 6 1/2 years in prison.

Eric Tauer, 53, pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering and fraud in connection with his operation of Royal Haven Builders Inc., a Hendricks County home construction business that built several homes in the late 1990s and the early part of this decade, mostly in and around Avon.

According to a release by the United States Attorney’s office, Tauer was indicted by a federal grand jury in February 2005 for charges in connection with the “operation of an extensive real estate business.”

Tauer’s business soon grew beyond his means, according to the release, and required more funding than he could raise through bank financing or investor financing. As a result, the U.S. Attorney’s office said he began check kiting and bank loan schemes.

According to the release, he wrote thousands of checks and deposited them at various banks before the checks bounced and the banks became aware and also lied to business associates so they’d take out loans for him.

Earlier this year, Bryan Kain, who once worked as a loan officer at a Hendricks County Monroe Bank branch, was acquitted of charges that he helped Tauer in the scheme. Tauer testified against Kain in that case.

A federal judge threw out the case, saying there was “insufficient evidence to go to trial,” said Bob Hammerle, Kain’s attorney.

“The judge throwing this case out as he did is as close to vindication as you can get,” Hammerle said.

Hammerle said Kain is just one of several victims in the case.

Homeowners in Hendricks County who were unaware of the scheme also became victims, he said, adding that some of their homes are up for foreclosure because of Tauer’s actions.

Royal Haven Builders eventually went bankrupt.

Most recently, Tauer was allegedly working for Home One Builders in Brownsburg.

He is expected to surrender to a federal facility in Terre Haute where he’ll serve out his imprisonment.

As part of his sentence, the federal court ordered Tauer to pay more than $9 million in restitution. He is supposed to face five years of supervised release following his prison stay.



Kristine Brite writes for the Hendricks County Flyer in Avon, Ind.



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By the numbers:

$217 million — Amount of bad checks Eric Tauer reportedly wrote

$9 million — Restitution Tauer was ordered to pay

78 months — Tauer’s prison sentence