Great Falls resident Karen Mills Thomas was charged February 6 with one count of exploitation of an older person, incapacitated person, or person with developmental disability.
She is facing the same charge in another case from January of 2018. The victims are relatives.
The victims’ family member Frank Thibaudeau said he was in shock when he learned of the situation.
“It was total disbelief,” he said. “I thought it had to have been a mistake because we trusted Karen so much.”
In the 2018 case, Thomas was managing money for one victim through a power of attorney.
According to court documents, the victim was soon evicted from her residence and lost her medical coverage because of overdue payments.
Thomas provided financial records and receipts to Adult Protective Services, but $6,300 were unaccounted for.
Court documents state Adult Protective Services found ATM withdrawals from the victim’s account at casinos around Great Falls.
Thibaudeau said once they learned about Thomas’ 2018 charges, they looked into the second victim’s finances.
“[Second victim] checked into her accounts, then reality hit and it was quite shocking,” Thibaudeau said.
According to court documents, Thomas offered to help the second victim pay her bills. The second victim had not seen her bank statements for several years, even after asking Thomas for the statements.
The second victim went to her bank to view her statements and found several charges she had not made.
When Thomas took over the victim’s affairs, payments to several businesses stopped, according to court documents.
Adult Protective Services also learned several accounts were opened under the second victim’s name, but she had no knowledge of the accounts.
Court documents state there are $20,619.98 in unaccounted for funds from the second victim’s bank account. That amount does not include the credit cards or other accounts that were used or opened.
Thibaudeau said they have known Thomas for 40 years and had no reason not to trust her.
“My biggest concern is who else she has done this to in town because she knows so many people. She has been there all of her life. She is very well liked and everybody knew her. Our concern is she has done this to other people,” Thibaudeau said.
Thibaudeau said he is grateful to the Great Falls Police Department and Adult Protective Services for their work on the cases.
Thomas will be arraigned for the 2019 charges on Thursday while the trial for the 2018 case is set for April 1.
