Nekoosa woman gets 8 years probation for theft from elderly AZ woman

Wood County Circuit Judge Timothy Gebert also ordered Janice Christiansen to pay $82,438 restitution after stealing from an 82-year-old Tucson, Arizona, woman.

by Karen Madden

Key Points

• A 65-year-old Nekoosa woman was sentenced to eight years of probation for stealing more than $59,000 from an elderly Arizona woman.
• The woman, who had power of attorney, used the funds for personal expenses, including ATM withdrawals at casinos.
• The theft resulted in the 82-year-old victim facing eviction from her assisted-living facility due to unpaid bills.
• As part of her sentence, the woman must pay $82,438 in restitution and is barred from serving as a power of attorney for anyone but her spouse.

WISCONSIN RAPIDS − A 65-year-old Nekoosa woman was sentenced April 10 to eight years of probation and must pay $82,438 restitution for stealing from an elderly Arizona woman's account.

Janice A. Christiansen pleaded guilty April 10 to theft in a business setting. Wood County Circuit Judge Timothy Gebert withheld a prison sentence and placed Christiansen on probation. He ordered her to pay $82,438 restitution, with $5,000 to be paid by May 11 and $500 a month to be paid starting June 1. Gebert also ordered Christiansen to undergo any counseling deemed necessary, have no contact with the victim and not to serve as a guardian or power of attorney for anyone other than her spouse.

According to the criminal complaint, on Nov. 10, an investigator from the state of Arizona contacted the Wood County Sheriff's Office and said she was investigating fraudulent spending from an 82-year-old Tucson, Arizona, woman's bank account. The woman has dementia and is in an assisted-living community, the investigator said.

The investigator said Christiansen had been spending money out of the woman's personal account for about two years, dating back to about June 1, 2023. The investigator said a check for $10,500 was written on the account, as well as ATM withdrawals at machines at the Ho-Chunk Casino and White-Tail Crossing in Nekoosa. The total amount was between $20,000 and $30,000.

Officials learned Christiansen had the woman's "power of attorney," according to the complaint. The automatic payments to the woman's assisted-living center had been turned off and a check written to the facility had bounced. Notice of termination of the 82-year-old woman's patient status with the center was given because she was about $32,000 past due, according to the complaint.

Officials chose a random month, May 2024, to look closely at transactions. During the month, they found 17 cash withdrawals all made in Wood County, according to the complaint. No withdrawals were made in Arizona. 

The total amount of Christiansen's withdrawals from the elderly woman's account minus deposits she made from June 25, 2023, to Feb. 3, 2025, was $59,410, according to the complaint.

Christiansen told investigators she and her husband got to know the older woman when the couple was going down to Arizona during the winter for seven years. Christiansen said she and her husband stopped going to Arizona about three years ago. Christiansen said the woman asked her to become her power of attorney, according to the complaint.

Christiansen said she struggled to pay the elderly woman's rent because the woman received $4,000 a month income and rent was about $3,500, according to the complaint. The investigator went over the woman's monthly expenses and income with Christiansen and she agreed there should be a monthly surplus of about $270, according to the complaint.

Christiansen said the facility had increased the rates. She called them several times to try to verify the rent but she couldn't get the information, she said. Christiansen said she became confused about how much the rent was and how much back pay was owed, according to the complaint.

Investigators learned Christiansen had lost $150,000 gambling at a casino. Christiansen said she didn't believe the whole amount she lost came from the older woman's account. When the investigator asked Christiansen how much she thought she had taken from the woman, Christiansen said she didn't know but she thought it might be between $50,000 and $60,000.

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Nekoosa woman gets 8 years probation for theft from elderly AZ woman