Hello and welcome to News Now, I’m your host Taylor Inman. We’re going over the biggest headlines this week for Northwest Montana.

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A Whitefish physician was charged Monday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Montana with conspiracy to commit wire fraud for allegedly helping facilitate about $39 million in fraudulent billing of Medicare and other federal benefits programs during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ronald David Dean entered into a plea deal with federal prosecutors in which he agreed to help the government continue its investigation into the fraud, according to federal court documents. …

Hello and welcome to News Now, I’m your host Taylor Inman. We’re going over the biggest headlines this week for Northwest Montana.

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A Whitefish physician was charged Monday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Montana with conspiracy to commit wire fraud for allegedly helping facilitate about $39 million in fraudulent billing of Medicare and other federal benefits programs during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ronald David Dean entered into a plea deal with federal prosecutors in which he agreed to help the government continue its investigation into the fraud, according to federal court documents. And as part of the agreement, will have to pay back around $780,500 in restitution to the Medicare program and two other federal programs.

According to a criminal charging document filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Missoula by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Dean would sign prescriptions and other documents for medical devices and Covid-19 tests for people who did not need them.

In turn, two unnamed people running different telemedicine companies incorporated in Florida then billed the federal government for the costs. Dean would then receive payments as part of a kickback scheme, according to the documents.

The charging document says the entire conspiracy resulted in Dean and the two others billing Medicare, the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Railroad Retirement Board $39.6 million in fraudulent claims, of which the three programs paid out at least $18 million.

The two others would send Dean an unsigned prescription for the durable medical equipment, which he would electronically sign without seeing or communicating with the patients, according to the documents.

Dean is listed as an emergency department physician at St. Luke Community Healthcare in Ronan on the hospital’s website. Steve Todd, the chief executive officer for St. Luke, said Tuesday afternoon the charges were new information to the company and were not related to Dean’s work as a contracted emergency physician in Ronan.

Todd said the company would investigate the allegations but would keep employment matters confidential.

A WebMD profile of Dean includes 10 one-star reviews, most of which were left last summer and fall and say they believe Dean is running a Medicare billing scam by prescribing medical equipment for which they did not ask.

Read this full story at the dailymontanan.com or dailyinterlake.com

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Flathead County will take in $3.77 million in federal payments this year under a program that compensates local governments for nontaxable federal land.

Montana’s portion of the payments-in-lieu-of-taxes payout totaled $43.3 million.

With 2.4 million acres of federal land, Flathead County's slice is the largest in the state. Last year, $3.4 million was distributed to Flathead County.

In fiscal year 2024, the county allocated $500,000 to Road Department operations and placed $1 million in savings for a future Detention Center project and set aside $250,000 for a future Kalispell library.

The preliminary budget for fiscal year 2025 shows the same amounts for roads and the jail, and another $125,000 set aside to be used as a match for any funds raised by the Flathead County Library for a new Kalispell branch. County commissioners in August will approve the final budget.

Established in 1976, PILT payments are intended to assist local governments offset losses in property taxes due to the existence of nontaxable federal lands within their boundaries. The funding can be used for public services, such as firefighting or police protection, construction of public schools and roads, or search-and-rescue operations.

The formula used to compute the payments is based on population, revenue-sharing payments and the amount of federal land within a county. Each county's acreage is based on lands administered by Department of the Interior agencies and the U.S. Forest Service.

Since 1977, the program has distributed nearly $12 billion in PILT payments.

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Authorities on Tuesday identified the woman who drowned near St. Mary Falls on the east side of Glacier National Park as 26-year-old Gillian Tones of North Apollo, Pennsylvania.

Park officials initially said that Tones went into the water above St. Mary Falls on June 23, but clarified Tuesday that she likely slipped on wet, slick rocks and fell into Virginia Creek between the St. Mary and Virginia falls, about 200 yards above the trail bridge.

Tones was swept up by the cold, fast moving water and went over a series of smaller waterfalls before becoming pinned underwater by a log for several minutes, officials said. Nearby visitors undertook “heroic efforts” to free her from the water, authorities said.

Despite resuscitation efforts by bystanders, park rangers, ambulance personnel and A.L.E.R.T. air ambulance medics, Tones never regained consciousness. She was pronounced dead by A.L.E.R.T. personnel about 7 p.m., June 23.

Park dispatchers received multiple 911 calls routed through Glacier County dispatch at about 5:20 p.m. Park rangers were on the scene by about 5:45 p.m. and the A.L.E.R.T. helicopter landed nearby about 6:20 p.m.

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