A former tenured University of Idaho professor recently fired by the administration was arrested in Lewiston for alleged drug possession and stealing a cellphone.

Denise J. Bennett, 45, was charged Friday with felony burglary and possession of methamphetamine and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. Bennett posted a $5,000 bond Tuesday and has a preliminary hearing scheduled Wednesday in Nez Perce County 2nd District Court.

Court records indicate the former mass media professor was staying with a Lewiston man at his camper trailer on Fourth Avenue North for the past week. Bennett was fired from her job Sept. 10, after a series of controversies largely instigated by Bennett.

The Lewiston man reported Bennett moved out of the camper two days prior to his calling 911, on Friday, and she had left her cat with him, which the man agreed to care for. The man’s cellphone, some clothing and a charging cord, however, were missing from the trailer. The trailer was locked and it had a window broken out. The man told police he wanted to press charges against Bennett.

Lewiston police went to a nearby hotel where Bennett was staying and she reportedly admitted to climbing through the trailer’s window and allegedly taking the phone and charging cord. Police recovered the cellphone and cord at Bennett’s hotel room. While officers were interviewing her, they also located a refillable vape bottle containing a clear liquid, a blue plastic pen tube with white residue in it and a zippered pouch containing a plastic bag with suspected meth inside, according to police records.

A portable drug test was performed on the white substance in the plastic bag and the liquid in the vape bottle, which both resulted in presumptive positives for meth. The combined suspected meth weighed about 1 gram, court records show. Bennett was detained without incident.

Bennett has previously retained Moscow attorney Melissa Luna, but she had no attorney listed on her criminal case. A call to Luna went unanswered Wednesday.

Bennett’s arrest follows a string of controversies beginning with Bennett calling out UI administration for what she deemed the university’s poor handling of grant funding and lack of maintenance at the Radio-TV Center on the Moscow campus, according to previous reporting in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Bennett was placed on administrative leave Jan. 24 after sending an email to UI administrators listing her grievances.

The university issued an emergency alert stating Bennett had been barred from campus and alleged she had recently admitted to using meth and had access to firearms. The alert came a day after Bennett went on an expletive-laden tirade via Facebook live where she criticized the UI administration and listed the reasons she was placed on leave. The alert also caused the rescheduling of a protest by students supporting Bennett.

The alert stemmed from a domestic incident — that didn’t result in charges — where Bennett told Moscow police she had previously used methamphetamine. In reports, police assured Bennett the university would not be told of her alleged drug use, but the report was later forwarded to university officials, according to records.

Bennett was ultimately fired, with her last day listed as Saturday. UI President Scott Green wrote a letter of dismissal, dated Sept. 10, and cited the Dismissal Hearing Committee recommendation that Bennett’s employment be terminated as cause for her firing. Bennett had been employed at the university since 2006.

The committee recommended in August that Bennett be fired. The committee found that she refused to take responsibility for her conduct or engage in mediation with the university. Bennett previously told the Daily News she intended to appeal the dismissal. Bennett wrote to the Daily News that the emergency alert demonstrated “zero good faith effort” by the university and “irreparably” destroyed her career and way of life because of widespread news media coverage.

“The calculated alerts ... unfairly characterized me as a drug-addled-gun-wielding-school-shooter, which couldn’t be farther from the truth as I have never fired a gun in my life,” Bennett wrote.

Additionally, Bennett has issued tort claims for damages in relation to the situation, one against the Moscow Police Department and the other against UI, according to a prior news release from her attorney.

Burglary is punishable by at least one and up to 10 years in prison. Possession of methamphetamine carries a punishment of up to seven years in prison.

Holm may be contacted at (208) 848-2275 or tholm@lmtribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomHolm4.