A man who allegedly got lost while tubing down the Root River with a friend and later stole a car earlier this month will serve prison time in a separate drug case.

Joshua Allen Vlasaty, 30, of Austin will serve nine years in prison with credit for 242 days served.

He was convicted of felony first-degree drug possession for having more than 25 grams of methamphetamine, a subsequent offense. He was also convicted of misdemeanor DWI, for which he will serve 90 days concurrent with his prison sentence.

At about 3:32 a.m. on June 29, 2015, Austin police officers driving on West Oakland Avenue and saw a vehicle without a rear license plate light illuminated, according to court records.

They stopped the car and saw two people in the front seats, one of which was Vlasaty, who continually fidgeted in his seat and appeared to be under the influence of drugs. He lost his balance as he stepped out of the car.

He failed three sobriety tests and was arrested for driving while impaired.

A search revealed a meth pipe and a glass container that held about 28.86 grams of meth. He admitted the drugs belonged to him. The passenger said Vlasaty asked her to hide the container as they were being stopped by police. She said she wasn’t sure what the container held.

Vlasaty has a prior first-degree drug crime conviction from 2007 in Mower County.

Vlasaty was charged June 13 in Fillmore County court with two counts of felony theft for taking or driving a motor vehicle with no owner consent and misdemeanor tamper with motor vehicle-entering without owner permission. He and a friend, Jessi Kominek, 25, of Austin were tubing on the Root River between Preston and Lanesboro. The two apparently got lost and then stole a vehicle from an unoccupied home.