St. Francis Man Charged with Stealing Dirt Bike, Fleeing Cops

A St. Francis man was arrested after police say he stole a dirt bike and led police on a chase through Anoka County.

A Minnesota State Patrol sergeant reported hearing a loud, racing engine around 9:25 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25, in a residential area near County Road 22.

The sergeant says a man was speeding on a dirt bike and refused to pull over when the sergeant activated his lights. The suspect was traveling about 70 mph along Country Road 22 and Nightingale Street. He eventually stopped at a home on the 2300 block of 198th Avenue Northwest in Oak Grove.

Police identified him as 23-year-old Nicholas Wayne Rickard of St. Francis. It was also determined that the dirt bike had been reported stolen from a home in East Bethel that same day.

Rickard has been charged with one count of theft and one count of fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines on the theft charge and up to three years in prison and $5,000 in fines on the fleeing a peace officer charge.