Spokane doctor facing kidnapping charges had recently sued former employer for wrongful termination

The Spokane doctor jailed on a federal attempted kidnapping charge had recently filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination in 2020 from his leadership position.

Ronald C. Ilg remained in custody of the Spokane County Jail on Saturday afternoon pending a hearing in U.S. District Court. Ilg filed a lawsuit in Spokane County Superior Court on April 1 alleging he’d been forced out of his job as corporate medical director of a firm called Pediatrix, for whom he’d worked since 2005.

Ilg is accused of using the “dark web” to seek someone to break the hands of a former employee he didn’t like and to kidnap and drug his estranged wife in an effort to extort her to drop court proceedings against him, according to a criminal complaint filed late Friday.

Ilg told FBI investigators he had used the website, but his plan instead was to seek someone to kill him so that his assets would transfer to a woman he’d taken to Mexico, not his estranged wife. But the complaint says Ilg acknowledged he had not updated his will or the beneficiaries to his life insurance policy.

As of Saturday afternoon, a court date had not yet been set in that case, and Ilg did not have a listed defense attorney. He faces a potential 20-year prison sentence.

In the civil lawsuit, Ilg alleges that he’d served as Pediatrix’s corporate medical director through November 2019, when the company eliminated the position following allegations of harassment against Ilg that he claims were false. A year later, he was forced to resign from the company, according to the lawsuit.

Ilg alleges that the termination was without cause and that Pediatrix and its parent company, Mednax, did not give him an opportunity to participate in a human resources investigation against him.

The lawsuit states that Ilg entered the Physician Health Program, a confidential treatment program for doctors who face challenges that might impair their work, following a meeting with Sacred Heart Medical Center Children’s Hospital’s chief administrator in 2019. The doctor treating Ilg would not allow him to return to work at Sacred Heart during his treatment, according to the lawsuit.

Ilg was forced to resign by Pediatrix in December 2020, according to the lawsuit.

A spokeswoman for the companies could not immediately be reached for comment on the lawsuit via email on Saturday. Ilg’s attorney also could not be immediately reached for comment on how the criminal charge could affect the wrongful termination lawsuit.