FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, May 23, 2018
CONTACT: Sara Rabern (605) 773-3215
PIERRE, S.D. - Attorney General Marty Jackley announced today that Barbara Anita Lingenfelter, 60, Watertown, was sentenced in Third Circuit Court to one count of obtaining money, property, or assistance by fraud and one count of petty theft. She pled guilty to these charges on April 11, 2018. Sentencing took place on May 16, 2018.
“We are continuing to see an increase in elder financial abuse cases and it is even more important now that we pool our state and federal law enforcement resources together to identify these victims and obtain restitution for the programs that are being exploited,” said Jackley.
Lingenfelter was sentenced to the following:
- Serve 30 days in the Codington County Jail for the Petty Theft
- Serve 30 days in the Codington County Jail as part of two years supervised probation, consecutive to the Petty Theft sentence
- Pay $25,873.24 in Restitution
Charges stem from information provided by a nursing home facility that believed Lingenfelter, Power of Attorney for her mother, obtained benefits from the State of South Dakota by fraud. Lingenfelter used her mother’s assets for her own personal benefit, and she failed to provide for her mother’s nursing care.
This case was investigated jointly by Social Security Administration-Office of Inspector General (SSA-OIG) and the Division of Criminal Investigation with assistance from the South Dakota Department of Social Services Office of Recoveries and Financial Investigations and prosecuted by the Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation Unit of the Attorney General’s Office.
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