Man charged after 120-mph chase from Butte to Helena; separate armed robberies investigated

A man faces three felony charges in Lewis and Clark County following a Tuesday high-speed chase from Butte to Helena, and he could face further charges in Gallatin County after being linked to multiple armed robberies that occurred earlier Tuesday.

Brandon Lee Verge was charged in Lewis and Clark County Justice Court with fleeing or eluding a peace officer causing serious bodily injury or death and two counts of criminal endangerment, all felonies.

Verge was the driver of a vehicle involved in a chase on Tuesday that ended in the Helena Valley near Masonic Home Road and Glass Drive when a Montana Highway Patrol trooper performed a PIT maneuver, sending the vehicle rolling over into a field.

Verge was the driver of the Mercedes-Benz SUV involved in the pursuit, while Jada The Boy and Charles Madigan were passengers, according to court documents.

The chase began in Butte when police and Montana Highway Patrol troopers identified a vehicle that was reported as suspicious or being involved in a crime at 11:30 a.m., according to an arrest affidavit for Verge.

When law enforcement attempted to stop the vehicle in Butte around 1:30 p.m., Verge and his passengers fled toward Helena, according to the MHP trooper who wrote the affidavit.

Madigan had a GPS monitor bracelet on that allowed MHP to track the speeding vehicle. The trooper tried to catch up, and when the pursuit got to Boulder, they asked Helena-based troopers to set up to intercept the vehicle.

By the time the pursuit entered Helena on I-15, the trooper and others finally caught up to the vehicle. Speeds reached 120 mph through Helena, according to the affidavit.

Verge took the Cedar Street exit, blew through red lights and had "zero concern for the innocent motoring public," almost colliding head-on with another vehicle at one point, the affidavit states.

Speeds were consistently in the range of 85-115 mph along the Frontage Road, according to the document, before Verge turned onto Masonic Home Road and the trooper performed the PIT maneuver.

A PIT maneuver, also known as precision immobilization technique, is when law enforcement use their vehicle to push another vehicle to the side, causing it to lose traction and slide.

All three individuals inside the vehicle were taken into custody and transported to the hospital for treatment, according to MHP.

After all were treated medically, MHP determined Boy and Madigan were not "truly involved," the affidavit states.

Verge admitted the vehicle was stolen out of Gallatin County and to committing armed robberies Tuesday morning in Bozeman and Belgrade, according to the affidavit.

The trooper wrote in the affidavit Manhattan police would be filing charges for the stolen vehicle and Bozeman police would be filing charges for the armed robberies.

Bozeman police said Wednesday that a man armed with a knife robbed a hotel near North 7th Avenue and Oak Street and got away with cash. About 20 minutes later, a gas station was robbed at knifepoint near East Main Street and North Broadway Avenue, about 2 miles away, according to police. No one was reported injured.

Shortly afterward, another "very similar" incident happened in Belgrade, a department spokesperson said.

Bozeman police said the suspect in those three incidents was in custody elsewhere on separate charges but did not directly identify Verge as the suspect.

Agencies in Bozeman, Belgrade and Manhattan were working collectively to investigate the incidents, the police department said.