Woman accompanying Montana homicide suspect had meth in car

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Police reported finding a pound of methamphetamine along with marijuana in a car belonging to a Butte woman who was in Helena with a convicted drug dealer who is now charged in a fatal shooting.

Travis Holly Stephens, 30, is charged with two counts of criminal possession of dangerous drugs with intent to distribute. She has not entered a plea. Her bail is set at $150,000, the Independent Record (https://bit.ly/2jXDDfO) reported Tuesday.

Prosecutors say Stephens traveled to Helena with Brandon LeClair on Jan. 24 and that they met with Kenneth Lee Purcell Jr., 31, at the Motel 6.

Stephens told officers the men fought in the motel room and that Purcell hit LeClair in the head with a whiskey bottle and kicked him before the fight moved to the parking lot, where Purcell was shot to death early on Jan. 25.

LeClair, 41, was arrested later that day in Boulder on a warrant charging him with deliberate homicide. He has not entered a plea. He remains jailed with his bail set at $250,000.

LeClair told investigators he, Purcell and Stephens all used and sold drugs and that Purcell had been harassing and threatening him on social media and calling him a “snitch,” court records said.

Stories in The Billings Gazette indicated LeClair served as a confidential informant and testified against a man who was convicted of bringing large amounts of meth into the Billings area and sentenced to life in prison in 2009. In November. Former President Barack Obama shortened the man’s sentence to 20 years, court records said.

LeClair was sentenced to five years in federal prison in 2007 after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. He had been convicted in federal court in 1999 for possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute and was sentenced to just over three years in prison. LeClair completed his probation in November 2014.

Purcell’s criminal history includes a conviction for criminal distribution of dangerous drugs in Silver Bow County for a 2009 crime, state court records said.

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Information from: Independent Record, https://www.helenair.com