Attorney General Tim Fox announced that Del Linda Frost, 60, who recently pleaded guilty to exploitation of an older person, received a suspended sentence and was ordered to pay more than $94,000 in restitution to her victim’s estate. At a sentencing hearing on December 16, 2019, Judge Michael Hayworth ordered Frost to pay $94,075 in restitution and sentenced her to ten years in Montana State Prison, suspended. Frost was appointed temporary full conservator of Arthur Yamada on March 10, 2014; she became his permanent co-conservator on January 22, 2016. On August 23, 2017, the business manager of the nursing home where Yamada lived informed Miles City police that an $8,400 check from Yamada written by Frost had bounced. Frost wrote two more checks totaling $14,382 to the nursing home; those checks also failed to clear. Additionally, Frost wrote several checks from Yamada’s checking account for cash, which emptied the account and left Yamada unable to pay for his care. Frost also closed two certificates of deposit totaling almost $40,000. To cover the loss, Frost transferred funds from Yamada’s other bank accounts. To explain the checks issued for cash, Frost claimed they were for Yamada’s monthly allowance and items for his personal use. Frost was unable to explain why nearly $94,000 was missing, and resigned as Yamada’s co-conservator on March 14, 2018. Yamada died on August 2, 2018 at the age of 97.
“This case was especially troublesome, given that the defendant worked in a law office and should have had the best interests of Mr. Yamada in mind when she was appointed as his conservator,” Attorney General Tim Fox said. “I commend the nursing home business manager who alerted authorities when she suspected something was wrong, as well as my Division of Criminal Investigation’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Custer County Attorney’s Office for their diligent work on this case,” Fox added.
