Montana Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Stealing $134,000 from Her Elderly Mother-in-law and Father-in-law

BISMARCK – United States Attorney Mac Schneider announced that on April 13, 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Daniel L. Hovland sentenced Carol Ann Feist, age 57, from Whitehall, Montana, to serve 65 months in federal prison, 3 years of supervised release, and payment of $134,000.00 in restitution after she pleaded guilty for committing Bank Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft against her elderly mother-in-law and father-in-law.  As part of this sentence, Judge Hovland imposed a $134,000.00 money judgment against Feist.

On October 26, 2021, Feist called a customer service representative at a US Bank, located in Bismarck, North Dakota, and pretended to be her elderly mother-in-law.  Feist fraudulently provided US Bank Representatives with her mother-in-law’s personal identifying information and deceitfully initiated a $134,000.00 wire transfer from her mother-in-law and father-in-law’s US Bank checking account to a title company located in Helena, Montana.  The $134,000.00 transaction represented the life savings of Feist’s mother-in-law and father-in-law, and Feist initiated this wire transfer without her mother-in-law or father-in-law’s knowledge or permission.  Thereafter, Feist utilized the $134,000.00 wire transfer as a down payment on a home she purchased in Whitehall, Montana.

Prior to Feist stealing $134,000 from her mother-in-law, she also fraudulently impersonated her father-in-law by listing him as a co-borrower on the Whitehall, Montana property.  Specifically, during the purchase of the property, Feist presented real estate closing documents which contained both her father-in-law’s forged signature and a fraudulent State of North Dakota notary stamp.  Feist conducted the transactions without her father-in-law’s knowledge or permission.  During the timeframe of Feist’s criminal actions, her father-in-law was in hospice care and has since passed away.

“Financial abuse of the elderly is a serious crime,” Schneider said. “Whether it is foreign-based scammers or a family member, federal law sets forth serious penalties for those who defraud senior citizens. Today’s strong sentence is a credit to our career prosecutors and partners in law enforcement.”  

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bismarck Police Department, and the Jefferson County (Montana) Sherriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan J. O’Konek prosecuted this case.

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