Attorney General’s Office secures first conviction and sentence under Elder Justice Unit

HELENA – A Big Horn County woman received a 10-year deferred imposition of sentence and was ordered to pay $101,171 in restitution for financially exploiting her mother and stepfather, Attorney General Austin Knudsen announced today. This case marks the first conviction and sentence investigated and prosecuted by the Montana Department of Justice’s Elder Justice Unit, which was permanently created by the Legislature in 2023 and requested by Attorney General Knudsen.

Kristel Marie Blair was convicted in August 2025 on two counts of exploitation of an older person or incapacitated person as both victims were over the age of 65 when the crimes were committed.

In early 2019, Blair signed a Power of Attorney (POA) that allowed her to oversee her mother’s finances and authorized her to make gifts, including cash, to her mother’s family consistent with an “established pattern of giving.” However, the POA prohibited her from compensating herself.

In December 2019, Blair violated the POA when she wrote and deposited two checks worth $61,000 from her mother and stepfather’s joint account into her account purportedly as a “gift investment.”She violated the POA again in July 2020, when two additional transactions worth $15,840 were deposited into Blair’s account from the victims’ same joint account. Each transaction exceeded Blair’s authority under the POA and was not authorized by her stepfather. Blair is facing similar charges in Wyoming.

The case was investigated by the Division of Criminal Investigation’s Elder Justice Unit, the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office, Montana Adult Protective Services, and the Sheridan County Wyoming Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Elder Justice Unit prosecutor Angie Rolando and former prosecutor Mike Fanning.

The Elder Justice Unit is currently investigating 12 active cases. To report financial exploitation and abuse of seniors, Montanans can contact the Montana Department of Justice at 406-444-3874.

Montanans can also report any phone, email, or mail scams to the Montana Department of Justice’s Office of Consumer Protection at [email protected], or 406-444-4500 (toll-free: 800-481-6896), or online at https://dojmt.gov/office-of-consumer-protection/.

Montanans can report suspected cases of Medicaid fraud or elder abuse by calling the Medicaid Fraud hotline at 800-376-1115.