A Portland defense attorney

denied any drug use took place while he was parked outside a casino with his client and another passenger, even after officers explained there was surveillance video of them smoking from a glass pipe, according to police reports.

The arrest prompted one of the seven active Oregon State Bar complaints alleging misconduct by Jeffrey Milstein. Two others were filed by Clackamas County circuit judges, including one who fined Milstein $1,000 in February for contempt of court.

All seven are under review by the disciplinary counsel's office, said Karla Houtary, a bar spokeswoman. She said she didn't know when rulings would be made on the allegations.

The 46-year-old lawyer was arrested May 25, days after he was indicted on drug possession charges in Lincoln County Circuit Court along with his 28-year-old client Brock Kelland and 30-year-old Candice Gooch.

Security officers at Chinook Winds Casino called Lincoln City police around 11:05 p.m. on May 16 to report surveillance footage showing people inside a white Chevy Impala smoking drugs in a parking lot. According to the police report, the video showed Kelland and Gooch smoking what appeared to be heroin while sitting in the front seats. It was not clear if Milstein also partook in drug use.

Milstein later switched places with Kelland and drove away before police arrived, the report said. They were pulled over in the area and Kelland and Gooch, who were on probation in Clackamas County, were detained.

Milstein told officers he had accompanied Kelland to court in Newport earlier that day and he believed the Impala belonged to Kelland's mother or grandmother. The trio denied any drug use occurred and Milstein claimed he was driving because Kelland and Gooch had been drinking, the report said.

Police later found pills, heroin, glass tubes with traces of meth and heroin inside, and other drug paraphernalia in the car, the report said. Kelland and Gooch were arrested, and Milstein was allowed to drive away.

Milstein has since been released from the Lincoln County Jail. One of the conditions of his release agreement is that he avoid casinos, court records show.

Milstein has been a member of the Oregon State Bar since 2008, records show, and has complaints dating back to December 2014, records show.

A former client filed a complaint in December 2014 claiming Milstein kept his $18,170 divorce settlement check and refused to provide any invoice or bill of expenses after previously agreeing that his fee was $2,500. The client also contends the lawyer left a threatening voicemail message after resigning as his attorney in a criminal case. A Clackamas County Circuit Judge filed a complaint that same month alleging Milstein knowingly made false statements while representing a client in a theft case.

Another attorney filed a complaint against Milstein in October 2015. In that case, the attorney acted as an arbitrator in fee dispute mediation between Milstein and one of Milstein's clients, where the client testified she partly paid the attorney in prescription medication and that she, Milstein and his friends "used cocaine together on several occasions." The arbitrator wrote that he found the woman's testimony to be credible.

Another former client claimed in a September 2015 complaint that Milstein continued to bill her and work on her child custody case even after she asked for her money back and told him she no longer wanted him to represent her. She claimed he spent six months not submitting any paperwork on her behalf and routinely asked her to come to his office where he talked about his life and other topics not pertaining to her case. She said he billed her for those visits.

In December 2015, another attorney had concerns about ex parte communication Milstein had with a Lincoln County Circuit judge related to an adoption case that involved Brock Kelland where Milstein made statements she said were "without any merit" and in some cases "simply untrue."

Another Clackamas County judge found Milstein in contempt of court in February for misconduct and obstruction of the court's authority and fined him $1,000. The judge wrote that Milstein was disrespectful during a hearing, repeatedly interrupted her when she spoke, didn't stand when she entered or left the courtroom and at one point said "this whole thing is irrelevant."

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey