Montana Woman Ordered to Pay $94K for Elder Exploitation

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana judge has ordered a Miles City woman to pay $94,000 in restitution after she pleaded guilty to exploiting an elderly man whose financial affairs she managed, officials said Thursday.

District Judge Michael Hayworth also gave 60-year-old Del Linda Frost a 10-year suspended prison sentence earlier this month, Attorney General Tim Fox said in a statement.

Fox said Frost siphoned nearly $94,000 from Arthur Yamada between 2014 and 2018 after she was appointed his conservator to handle his financial affairs.

Authorities began investigating after an official at Yamada’s nursing home reported to Miles City police that checks written by Frost for Yamada had bounced.

Frost had emptied Yamada’s checking account, leaving him unable to pay for his care, and closed two certificates of deposits in his name, Fox said.

Yamada died last year at age 97.

As part of the plea deal in October, prosecutors dropped a charge of theft of property by embezzlement against Fros