Former Butte JP arrested for allegedly driving under drug influence - Montana Standard

A former Butte Justice of the Peace who recently pleaded guilty to drug-related charges was arrested early Thursday in Jefferson County in connection with driving while under the influence of drugs.

Robert "Bob" Lee, 67, of Butte faces a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of drugs after he was arrested on Interstate 90 about 8 miles west of Whitehall, according the Jefferson County Sheriff Craig Doolittle.

Lee was booked into Boulder jail on $770 bond for the DUI and $25,000 bond for an alleged probation violation for a recent drug-related conviction. Lee bonded out of jail by Thursday afternoon, according to jail staff.

Doolittle said dispatchers received a call just after midnight Thursday of a motorist driving the wrong way on the interstate. A patrol eventually found a vehicle pulled over on the interstate in the westbound lane about two miles west of the Pipestone exit. The vehicle was facing in the proper direction at the time, the sheriff said.

The deputy identified the driver as Lee and determined he was under the influence of some type of drug, and Lee was placed under arrest, according to the sheriff's report.

Last month, Lee was given a three-year deferred sentence in Anaconda district court on two felony counts of fraudulently obtaining dangerous drugs. Lee pleaded guilty last year to illegally getting prescription medication in Anaconda in 2010 while he was still serving as justice of the peace in Butte.

Lee retired as justice in June 2012 while he was being investigated on the drug charges.

In November 2010, Lee was accused of driving to the Butte courthouse while under the influence of prescription methadone. He was initially charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence of drugs, but he later pleaded no contest to misdemeanor negligent endangerment. Lee was given a one-year deferred sentence in that case.

— Reporter John Grant Emeigh may be reached via email at john.emeigh@lee.net or phone at 496-5511. Follow him at Twitter.com/@johnemeigh.