HELENA — The Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks has reached a settlement with a warden who argued he was wrongfully transferred after investigating law enforcement officers in Lake County.
The agency reached a settlement last month with Frank Bowen that says his job performance always met expectations.
Bowen, a longtime Polson warden, was transferred last August to a post in the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.
The move came after Bowen told a legislative committee that the Lake County county attorney had stymied his effort to bring poaching charges against officers with the Lake County Sheriff’s Department, the Polson Police Department and the Flathead Tribal Police Department.
“One statement we took from them down there is, ‘You can’t break the law if you are the law,'” Bowen said at the time. “That is the backdrop we are up against.”
Bowen said that Lake County Attorney Mitch Young refused to prosecute poaching charges.
Young has said there was nothing to prosecute in the cases and argued Bowen’s accusations were without merit.
The FWP settlement agreed to compensate Bowen $1,328 for his expenses with the case. The settlement was first reported by the Missoula Independent. The Independent posted a copy of the settlement on its website.
“We regret any misleading statements construed by the public as unflattering and damaging to your reputation,” the agency stated in the settlement.
The agency said it did not have any further comment.
“We don’t have anything to add,” said FWP spokesman Ron Aasheim. “It’s a personnel issue.”
Bowen did not return a call seeking comment.
Bowen’s allegations built on other critics of Lake County law enforcement. Five former employees of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office have a pending federal lawsuit and allege they were disciplined for talking about misdeeds of fellow officers.
The Montana Public Safety Officer Standards and Training Council, or POST, also was investigating Lake County officers.
That led to a 15-year suspension of Ronan police Chief Dan Wadsworth for falsifying a law enforcement academy application. Also, a Lake County sheriff’s sergeant was recently stripped of law certifications for fabricating his military record.