Former Whitefish Assisted Living Facility Director Accused of Stealing Narcotics Pleads Not Guilty to Burglary Charges
Jillian Mackenzie Gue, 33, entered the plea before Judge Robert Allison in Flathead County District Court
By Maggie Dresser
The 33-year-old former director of an assisted living and memory care facility in Whitefish accused of stealing narcotics from a resident’s room last year has pleaded not guilty to a felony count of burglary in Flathead County District Court.
Jillian Mackenzie Gue entered the plea before Judge Robert Allison at a June 27 arraignment hearing. She appeared from Billings via Zoom.
Gue was arrested last month, booked in the Flathead County Detention Center and released shortly after on her own recognizance. She is scheduled to stand trial on Dec. 2.
According to charging documents filed by Deputy Flathead County Attorney John Donovan, Nicole Jemming, the vice president of operations for The Springs Living at Whitefish, notified the Whitefish Police Department of a theft at the senior living facility in Whitefish last September.
Jemming told officers that Gue entered a resident’s room and had stole narcotics. After speaking to the resident, law enforcement learned she had noticed hydrocodone pills missing from her room, which prompted the resident to install a surveillance camera in her room.
On Sept. 11, 2023, the resident attended a medical appointment in the morning and when she returned, she noticed the door was unlocked. The surveillance footage revealed Gue, who had no reason to be in her room, entering and taking three nights of hydrocodone pills from her pill box.
Jemming confirmed Gue’s identity in the footage.
According to an April press release, The Springs at Whitefish announced Joel Allen was named the new executive director ahead of a planned expansion recently approved by the Whitefish City Council. The expansion will entail the addition of 124 units on River Lakes Parkway near Logan Health’s Whitefish campus.