Authorities charged "Yellowstone" actor Orianka Kilcher on Monday with illegally collecting nearly $97,000 in disability benefits while working on the show.
According to a statement from the California Department of Insurance, Kilcher, 32, of North Hollywood, is charged with two felony counts of workers' compensation insurance fraud.
Kilcher will appear in four episodes of Kevin Costner Paramount Network Western Angela Blue Thunder in 2020.
She also played Pocahontas in the 2005 film "The New World" and appeared in the 2019 film "Dora and the Lost City of Gold."
Kilcher allegedly injured her neck and right shoulder while working on "Dora" in October 2018, according to the insurance department.
According to the insurance department statement, Kilcher told a doctor handling the insurance claim a year later that she had been offered work but could not accept it due to severe neck pain from her injury.
Kilcher received $96,838 in temporary disability benefits from 2019 to 2021. However, an investigation later revealed that Kilcher had worked on "Yellowstone." "The department stated that she claimed to be disabled for several months in 2019.
"According to records, she went back to the doctor and began receiving disability benefits five days after her last appearance on the show". According to the statement.
Kilcher surrendered and was arraigned on the charges in May, according to the statement.
Kilcher was a passenger in a production vehicle when she was injured, according to her attorney, Michael Becker.
"Third-party doctors confirmed her injury and eligibility for benefits". Ms. Kilcher was always open and honest with her doctors and treatment providers...and she never purposefully accepted benefits to which she did not believe she was entitled Becker stated.
Kilcher plans to "vigorously defend herself and requests that she be given the presumption of innocence both inside and outside the courtroom." Becker stated.