Des Moines, Iowa — The Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau reports 42-year-old Dustin French, of Red Oak, was charged with one count of Insurance Fraud – Presenting False Information (Class D Felony) and one count of Theft in the 2nd Degree (Class D Felony) following an investigation by the Bureau.

The charges against French, a former licensed insurance producer, stem from an investigation which began in April of 2020. According to criminal complaints filed by the Iowa Insurance Fraud Bureau, French provided false information to his insurance company in order to obtain insurance benefits to which he was not entitled.

On March 2, 2021, French answered to the charges in Montgomery County District Court and was released on his own recognizance. Trial will be set for a future date. No additional information will be provided at this time.

Iowans with information about insurance fraud are encouraged to contact the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau at 515-654-6556.

(Radio Iowa) – As the pandemic is forcing many tens of thousands of Iowans to work from home, the state’s official jobs website is offering some new options. Iowa Workforce Development is adding a Remote/Work From Home jobs display to its website in an effort to help job seekers who are specifically looking for that type of opportunity.

Workforce director Beth Townsend says the new tab should make it easier for Iowans to identify and apply for those jobs, noting, there are more than 76-thousand overall jobs available statewide on the site. Townsend is also encouraging the state’s employers to post their remote and work from home opportunities on IowaWORKS.gov.

(Radio Iowa) – COVID-19 ruined vacation plans for countless Iowans in the past year, but more than 300 Iowa high school students are getting a full refund on a band trip that was shut down by the virus. Lynn Hicks, spokesman for the Iowa Attorney General, says a Colorado-based travel outfit, Voyageurs International, had offered what it was calling the Ambassadors of Music Tour and 307 Iowans paid in advance.

“They signed up for this band tour of Europe, it was cancelled because of the pandemic,” Hicks says. “They got part of their money back but the contract said that it was less $1,900.” The Iowa students paid more than 63-hundred dollars each for the tour and accompanying adults paid 67-hundred, while about 40 Iowans paid at least two-thousand dollars more for a side trip to Greece.

“A lot of the students and their parents came to us, we talked to the company and found out the company had received some of the money back from the vendors that they worked with,” Hicks says. “We felt it was best that they return the full amount to the students and that’s what happened.” The Iowa Attorney General’s Office alleged the company violated several laws, including the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act. The company denied the charges but agreed to pay back the full 610-thousand dollars to its Iowa clients.

“We appreciate that they worked with us on this,” Hicks says. “The company did mislead the Iowans in how they handled this event, so in the end, we think it’s a nice end to the story.” The A-G’s office is in now in the process of contacting the Iowans and will send them refund checks.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A decision by the superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district to stick with remote learning in the midst of a pandemic could end up costing him his job. Television station WOI reports that the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners is seeking to strip Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Thomas Ahart of his administrator license.

The board says it found probable cause that Ahart failed to submit or implement a lawful plan to return students to the classroom for the 2020-21 school year as required by Gov. Kim Reynolds. The license is a state requirement to hold the position of schools superintendent in Iowa.