The alleged abuse was reported to authorities on Dec. 17, when paramedics in the camp called EMS after finding the elderly woman hypothermic in a cold and cluttered teepee, according to a police affidavit filed with the complaint. She was taken to CHI St. Alexius Health hospital, and staff found numerous medical issues, including bruises.

Bill Running Fisher, owner of Montana-based Eaglechild Consulting and Enforcement Services security firm and member of the Gros Ventre Tribe, is one of the people who reported the abuse, he said by phone Thursday afternoon. He is also cited in the police affidavit.

Running Fisher first came to camp as a medic with the veterans group during the first weekend of December. When a blizzard struck on Dec. 6, elderly people were evacuated to Prairie Knights Casino. As he went through tents and teepees looking for people, Running Fisher came across the elderly woman zip-tied to a chair, wearing only a heavy sweater, he said. She was not wearing a diaper and surrounded by her own urine and excrement, he said. Running Fisher said he cut her off the chair, and she was evacuated to the casino, but got lost in the shuffle before she could be taken to the hospital or authorities could respond.