A Festus man was recently arrested after he was charged twice last year for driving while intoxicated following two separate incidents. The man also was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance and two misdemeanor counts of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, according to court documents.
Michael Lee Kent, 52, was arrested on June 1. As of June 4, he was being held on a $30,000 bond at the Jefferson County Jail in Hillsboro, court and jail records show.
Kent is considered a persistent DWI offender because he has been convicted of at least two prior DWI charges. He was found guilty of DWI in January 2002 in Hillsboro Municipal Court, and he was found guilty of DWI in January 2003 in St. Louis County Municipal Court, according to court records.
A Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputy arrested Kent on June 28, 2025, following an accident near the intersection of Hwy. H and Gerlach Lane east of De Soto. Kent allegedly drove away from the accident but was found in a driveway near the scene, according to the case’s probable-cause statement.
Kent appeared to be intoxicated, and when the deputy asked him to rate his sobriety on a 10-point scale, with 10 being the highest, Kent allegedly said, “probably the highest,” the report said.
The deputy reported that at the time of the accident, Kent had recently been released from incarceration and had not reported to a parole officer as ordered. The deputy wrote that Kent had previously been convicted on charges of domestic assault and resisting arrest.
A Festus Police officer on April 18, 2025, arrested Kent after stopping him in 200 block of North Mill Street. Kent was wanted on an active warrant, and he allegedly fled from an officer attempting to stop him earlier that morning, the case’s probable-cause statement said.
Kent allegedly told the officer that he had smoked marijuana about an hour before the traffic stop, and after Kent allegedly failed field sobriety tests, he was arrested, the report said.
The Festus Police officer also allegedly found two bags containing crystal-like substances, a vial with a crystal-like substance and a smoking device in the vehicle that Kent was driving. The Missouri State Highway Patrol tested the substances and on July 22, 2025, reported the substances tested positive as methamphetamine, according to the report.