BILLINGS — On Friday, the Rapid City Police Department arrested Tama LaRay Donley from her South Dakota home on a warrant for her role in the alleged kidnapping last week of her mother from a Billings nursing home.
Donley, 53, is now at the Pennington County Jail in South Dakota, where she's in the process of being extradited to Yellowstone County, where she was charged with custodial interference, a felony.
See Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito explain the charges in the video below:
On June 1, Donley removed her 76-year-old mother, Donna Prescott, from her nursing facility, Aspen Meadows Health and Rehabilitation Center on the west end of Billings. Billings police posted an alert on Facebook asking residents to be on the lookout for Donley, and her brother, Kit Donley.
MTN contacted Donley and Prescott immediately after the news broke. Prescott told MTN she left Aspen Meadows on her own free will, and preferred to be with her children, rather than at Aspen Meadows.
"I feel safe, loved, and cared for," Prescott told MTN News last week.
Donley told MTN she did not kidnap her mom.
RELATED| Woman taken from Billings nursing home says she is home safe and left on her own free will
RELATED| Billings police turn alleged kidnapping case over to county attorney
MTN spoke to Twito on Tuesday after receiving the charging documents, which were filed June 3, that claimed Donley kidnapped her mother.
"Basically what (custodial interference) means is someone without lawful authority interferes with somebody who has lawful authority over a person, such as a child or a person who's been deemed mentally incompetent," said Twito.
Donley told MTN on June 1 she was notarized by a Billings notary and became Prescott's medical power of attorney.
The charging documents say otherwise.
In the documents, Prescott's power of attorney, named as 90-year-old M.D., or Prescott's aunt, did not give the Donleys permission to take Prescott out of the facility. The documents also say that the notary, identified as M.R., contacted law enforcement after seeing that Prescott was missing.
The charging documents refer to the morning that Prescott was removed from Aspen Meadows.
"M.D. is 90 years of age and reported that for nearly 30 minutes the Defendant and co-defendant refused to leave her residence until she gave them permission to visit D.P. M.D. reported she was in fear of physical harm for both the Defendant and co-defendant," Yellowstone County Deputy Attorney Cole Catlin wrote in the charging documents.
The documents also allege that Prescott had dementia and was unable to make medical and financial decisions for herself. In a May interview with MTN News, Donley said her mom was mentally competent.
According to Twito, Prescott will likely soon return to Aspen Meadows.
"As of yesterday, she was in a hospital facility in South Dakota, and there was caregivers from this community who were going to be sent to go get her," he said.
Once Donley is extradited to Montana, she will appear in front of a district judge to address the charge. If convicted of custodial interference, Donley faces a punishment of up to 10 years in prison, a $50,000 fine, or both, according to Twito.
