A California woman was sentenced on July 28 to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $170,666 in restitution after being convicted of bank fraud involving Glacier Bank in Northwest Montana. Kristin Renee Zelonish Edwards, 39, was found guilty by a federal jury on four counts of bank fraud in February following a two-day trial.
U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy presided over the case. Acting U.S. Attorney Mark Steger Smith said Edwards deposited 12 fraudulent savings bonds at four different Glacier Bank branches during four trips from California to Montana between October 2022 and January 2023.
According to court documents and trial testimony, Glacier Bank received notice from the United States Treasury Department in February 2023 that one of the savings bonds deposited by Edwards was fraudulent. The bank’s security officer contacted Edwards, who responded that she had found the bonds while going through her deceased grandmother’s belongings with her mother.
Witnesses testified that Edwards never received any bonds from her grandmother’s estate. The savings bonds were dated as early as 1980—seven years before Edwards’ birth—and bore her Social Security Number, which prosecutors argued indicated they could not have been legitimately purchased by her grandmother for her before she was born.
The U.S. Secret Service analyzed the bonds and determined they shared common defects and were not produced using authentic printing presses for government-issued savings bonds. Investigators also linked these fraudulent instruments to similar deposits made in Idaho and Colorado by an unindicted co-conspirator connected to Edwards.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katy Stack and Brian Lowney prosecuted the case with investigative support from the U.S. Secret Service. The U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana operates offices across Billings, Great Falls, Helena, and Missoula; it is part of the Department of Justice with responsibilities including addressing violent crime, fraud, environmental offenses, protecting citizens through ethical enforcement of federal laws, safeguarding public funds, and enhancing community safety and quality of life across Montana communities, according to the official website.