Montana Man Pleads Guilty to Drug Trafficking

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A Montana man has been sentenced to more than 22 years in prison on drug and weapons charges after pleading guilty to trafficking methamphetamine in the Bakken oil patch.

Thirty-two-year-old Ryan Edward Lee of Fairview was sentenced Thursday before U.S. District judge Susan Watters in Billings. He pleaded guilty in November to possession with attempt to distribute meth and carrying a firearm during drug trafficking.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says that after he was taken into custody by the Montana Highway Patrol, Lee attempted to escape by kicking out a patrol car window.

Authorities say Lee attempted a second escape by breaking out a window in his cell at the Yellowstone County Jail and chipping away at a wall outside the window over the course of several months.