Cook arrested on exploitation, theft charges

Samantha Cook of Greybull was arrested on Wednesday, April 8 for two counts of felony exploitation of a vulnerable adult and two felony theft charges after she allegedly spent over $154,000 from her parent’s accounts without their permission. 

Jason Beal, acting as a Big Horn County deputy sheriff, was assigned to the case Oct. 15, 2025. Previously, the Greybull Police Department and Department of Family Services had taken up the investigation March 21, 2025 after being contacted with concerns that Cook was stealing from her parents, both 82 years old. 

At the time, Greybull Police Officer Catherine Wiekhorst and DFS agent Samantha Johnson brought allegations against Cook to her parents, who also live in Greybull. Cook’s father explained that she was paying their bills. The affidavit of arrest, written by Beal, reported that “if Cook needed money she could ask, but she was never given permission to take or use any of their resources without permission.”

After Cook’s mother was injured in 2015, Cook took over her parents’ finances. Her father alleged that Cook was given access to all of the couple’s bank accounts, including five Certificates of Deposit totaling around $29,000 and a savings account that had a balance of about $16,000 as of January 2016, as far back as bank records were available. 

Cook’s mother said that at some point, Cook told them their accounts had run dry and they needed to close their CDs to cover expenses. Four smaller CDs were cashed out at a total around $5,000. A fifth CD, containing around $24,000, was closed and put largely into savings. Cook’s father stated in the affidavit that the funds in the savings account were to be used for funeral expenses, and he told Cook she was to touch that money under no circumstances. 

In March 2025, Cook’s father was reportedly notified by their bank that a $300 check written by Cook from their account had bounced, which Cook allegedly had written without permission to repair her pellet stove. Once Cook’s parents were able to access their online banking, her father found several other charges made by Cook: Venmo payments, including sending money to her son in college, and unauthorized ATM withdrawals from her parents’ account. 

Additionally, the affidavit states that Cook continually used a credit card set up by her mother in October 2016 that was meant to be used for a 90-day financing purchase on a refrigerator, to be paid off after those 90 days. Her parents did not use the card after that time, but Cook continued to, reportedly racking up $8,300 in purchases and advances from 2017 to 2023. Though the card was in her mother’s name, Cook’s address was the only one receiving statements at that time. The account reportedly became delinquent and was transferred to a collections company, with automatic payments set to come out of Cook’s parent’s account. Nineteen payments totaling $2,225 were made before payments were disabled. 

March 17, 2025, Cook’s parents purportedly closed all bank accounts Cook had access to and opened new ones. The affidavit reports the total amount Cook failed to reimburse her parents was around $101,400. In December 2025, Beal met with Cook at Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office, where she acknowledged she had been caring for her parents for 3-5 years. Cook stated that she felt the reimbursements she had made to her parents were fair. 

Each felony count carries a sentence of up to 10 years, a fine up to $10,000 or both. Cook was bailed after two days’ imprisonment, with her initial appearance on Friday, April 10. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for June.