A Powell woman who obtained thousands of dollars from an elderly woman she was helping care for has been ordered to repay the money and to stay away from the 88-year-old for the next year.

The conditions are part of Victoria L. Hertz Ruelas’ sentence on a misdemeanor count of recklessly exploiting a vulnerable adult — a charge she pleaded guilty to on Friday in Park County Circuit Court.

Hertz’s sentence also includes one year of unsupervised probation, with another 355 days of jail time suspended. She had already served roughly five days in jail from her initial arrest in June and for violating her bond conditions in August, when she had unauthorized contact with the elderly woman.

The sentence from Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah followed a plea deal between Hertz’s court-appointed attorney and the Park County Attorney’s Office. One of the key terms involved prosecutors lowering the exploitation charge from a felony crime to a misdemeanor.

“With it being changed, I would say guilty,” Hertz said when asked for her plea to the reduced charge on Friday.

Hertz reportedly befriended the woman while working as a CNA at Absaroka Senior Living. However, charging documents say Cody police, officials at the assisted living center and the elderly woman’s son all felt Hertz had crossed ethical lines. The two spent a significant amount of time together away from the facility and, according to the woman’s son, Hertz openly cried about her financial struggles. That, the son said, “tugged at [the woman’s] heart strings and created an opportunity for the [the woman] to feel obligated to help Hertz financially,” Cody Police Detective Rick Tillery recounted in an affidavit.

The woman wound up loaning $12,000 to Hertz — a sum that represented a significant percentage of her savings — and later decided to leave Absaroka Senior Living and move in with Hertz. Under the arrangement, she planned to pay Hertz $800 a month and help cover various expenses, Tillery wrote.

The detective and the woman’s son felt Hertz’s split-level home in Powell was not well-suited for the 88-year-old, who uses a walker, but she made the move anyway in May. The county attorney’s office charged Hertz with the felony exploitation charge in June, but Darrah soon dismissed the case.

Darrah indicated that he found the allegations concerning, “but I just don’t think it meets that definition [of a vulnerable adult].”

State law describes a vulnerable adult as someone who’s “unable to manage and take care of himself or his money, assets or property without assistance as a result of advanced age or physical or mental disability,” and Darrah said there was no evidence the woman is unable to manage her affairs as a result of any disability.

Prosecutors quickly refiled the charge and prepared to make another attempt at proving that the allegations fit the statute. Hertz, meanwhile, was again released on bond, with orders to have no contact with the woman. However, authorities soon learned that Hertz and the woman had taken a couple of out-of-state trips and were living together at another home on North Ingalls Street.

Hertz appeared to be “totally dependent on … the victim in this case, for complete and total financial support,” Tillery later reported in an affidavit.

At an August hearing, Hertz’s defense attorney, Sarah Miles, indicated her client had misunderstood the bond conditions, in part because the elderly woman wanted to have contact with Hertz. However, Darrah said the conditions had been clear and revoked Hertz’s signature bond, requiring her to instead post a $5,000 cash or surety bond.

Darrah had been set to reconsider the evidence and the statute at another preliminary hearing on Friday, but the parties instead presented the plea agreement to resolve the case.

Hertz agreed to immediately repay the woman $9,520 as restitution — part of the loaned cash had been repaid prior to sentencing, said Deputy Park County Attorney Jack Hatfield — while prosecutors agreed to not seek the forfeiture of her prior bond. She must also pay $270 in court fines and fees by mid November. While on probation, Hertz must obey the law and have no contact with the elderly woman, among other standard conditions.

At the conclusion of Friday’s brief hearing, Darrah wished Hertz luck, adding, “I hope I don’t see you in court ever again.”