A 29-year-old man from South St. Paul on Tuesday pleaded guilty in Freeborn County District Court to possessing methamphetamine with the intent to sell it.

The man, Joshua Dean Lee, pleaded guilty to one count of fourth-degree meth possession with the intent to sell as part of a plea agreement with his public defender and the Freeborn County Attorney’s Office.

The plea was classified as an Alford plea, in which a defendant maintains innocence but admits the prosecution has enough evidence to convict, usually of stiffer charges.

He initially faced one count of second-degree meth possession.

Lee was arrested May 26, after he was found by officers in the parking lot of the Countryside Inn Motel with the illegal drug in his vehicle.

Court documents state police responded to the parking lot after receiving a 911 call. No one spoke during the call but dispatchers could hear voices in the background and specifically a female voice crying and yelling. A female voice was also heard at one point asking about a half bag or half ounce of drugs.

The call was traced to the parking lot.

Police ultimately found 24 grams of meth in Lee’s car and found drug paraphernalia and about 2.5 grams of meth in co-defendant Shelby Lambert’s car.

After being booked into the Freeborn County jail, officials also reportedly found a meth pipe in Lambert’s bra.

Lee was previously convicted on second-degree meth sales in June of 2006. He is scheduled to be sentenced in the new case at 2:30 p.m. June 27.