Montana’s US Attorney’s Office Collects $9.5M in Penalties

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Attorney’s office in Montana collected $9.5 million in civil and criminal penalties in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30.

Nearly $8 million of that total was civil fines while $1.5 million was collected in criminal cases, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said Monday.

The U.S. Attorney’s office worked with other agencies within the Department of Justice to collect another $1.2 million.

“These recovered funds come from divesting criminals of ill-gotten gains and from civil penalties and debt collections,” Alme said in a statement. “The money helps to make crime victims whole and benefits the U.S. Treasury.”

Officials did not list amounts, but said the funds were collected in several criminal cases including that of Stanley Weber, a former Indian Health Services doctor convicted of sexual abuse of children and Woody’s Trucking LLC.

Weber was fined $200,000 in Montana and court records indicate he satisfied that judgment in May. Woody’s Trucking and owner Donald E. Wood of Baker were convicted of several charges related to a 2012 explosion at an oil and gas processing plant in Wibaux and were ordered to pay nearly $1.3 million, court records said.

Some of the money collected in civil actions include money paid by Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital in a confidential settlement to allegations of fraudulent billing and a $95,000 civil penalty that the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes agreed to pay for pharmacy violations involving opioids.