Rochelle Diane Rosten has been charged with one felony and two misdemeanors after she drove an SUV into the Smith River south of Great Falls on Thursday.
It happened sometime before 6 a.m. near mile marker 8 of MIllegan Road.
Cascade County Sheriff’s deputies responded after receiving a report of the SUV in the water, and saw that it was facing up-river about 10 feet from the shore in about three feet of water.
According to court documents, the driver – later identified as Rosten – was directed to get out of the SUV and come to the shore, but she refused. Deputies then waded into the river to escort her to the shoreline.
The charging documents allege that Rosten said something to the effect of "…my GPS stated that I needed to drive through the river," and told officers that "those people forced me to do this."
When asked if she had done any drugs, Rosten replied, "Yes, last night about nine o’clock," according to the documents.
When officers searched Rosten, they found a small plastic bag with a white crystal substance; Rosten admitted that it was meth. She then said that she would have used the rest of the meth but she did not have a needle, and that she "argued with the GPS" for several hours about driving into the river.
Court documents state that Rosten’s criminal record includes felony criminal endangerment, several DUIs, a probation violation, and two partner/family member assaults.
Rosten has been charged with criminal possession of dangerous drugs (felony); driving without a valid license (misdemeanor); and operation of a motor vehicle below the high water mark on state or federal land (misdemeanor).
div[data-mml-type=”relatedcategory”]{border: thin solid #e7e7e7;} .categories-right-icon{display: none;} .stories-area > hr{margin: 0px;} .stories-area > iframe {border: white;} div[data-mml-type]{ overflow: hidden; } div[data-mml-status=”draft”] {display: none !important;} div.fb-post span, div.fb-post span iframe{max-width: 100%;} div[data-mml-type=”twitter”].left, div[data-mml-type=”instagram”].left, div[data-mml-type=”facebook”].left{ float: left; position: relative; overflow:hidden; max-width:100%;}div[data-mml-type=”twitter”].right,div[data-mml-type=”instagram”].right,div[data-mml-type=”facebook”].right{ float: right; position: relative; overflow:hidden; max-width:100%;}div[data-mml-type=”twitter”].center,div[data-mml-type=”instagram”].center,div[data-mml-type=”facebook”].center{ width: 100% !important; overflow:hidden; text-align: center;}div[data-mml-type=”twitter”].center iframe,div[data-mml-type=”twitter”].center twitterwidget,div[data-mml-type=”instagram”].center iframe,div[data-mml-type=”facebook”].center iframe{ margin: auto !important;}div[data-mml-type=”facebook”].center > span{ margin: auto !important; display: block !important;} .mml-display-none{display: none !important;} div[data-mml-type=”gmaps”], div[data-mml-type=”youtube”] {position:relative; width:100%; padding-bottom:56.25%;} div[data-mml-type=”gmaps”] iframe, div[data-mml-type=”youtube”] iframe {position:absolute; left:0; top:0;} div[data-embed-type=”clip”],div[data-mml-type=”clip”]{position: relative;padding-bottom: 56.25%;width: 100%;box-sizing: border-box;} div[data-embed-type=”clip”] iframe { position: absolute;}}div[data-embed-type=”social”], {position: relative;padding-bottom: 56.25%;width: 100%;box-sizing: border-box;} div[data-embed-type=”social”] iframe,div[data-mml-type=”clip”] iframe { position: absolute;}}.frankly-img{max-width:100%;}.mce-item-table{word-break: break-all;}
