RIDGELAND MAN ELUDES COPS, CAUGHT IN STOLEN TRAILER WITH
UNDERAGE GIRLFRIEND
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
WXCE Radio
Polk and Dunn County authorities continue to wade through the details of a stolen car, high-speed chase, eluding officers and break-ins to a camper that led to the arrest of a 17-year-old Ridgeland boy and his teen girlfriend. According to Sheriff Ann Hraychuck, Jeremiah Bever was taken into custody on Wednesday after escaping police briefly. Bever is alleged to have bought the stolen 1999 Oldsmobile for $250, with a plan to leave for South Dakota, where he and his girlfriend would hide out. He is alleged to have stolen the license plates from a Deer Park residence and later led Amery Police officers on a high-speed chase at speeds of up to 110-mph. A portion of that chase went right by the Amery School campus, at 8:15 am last Tuesday. Bever eluded authorities for a short while before a County Sheriff’s Deputy found him crossing Highway 8 in the Town of Apple River. He ended up crashing the stolen Olds a short time later, but he and the 15-year-old girlfriend were able to elude officers on foot. They were captured last Wednesday after breaking into a camping trailer and spending the night. Bever faces 2 felony charges of fleeing officers, receiving stolen property and a misdemeanor criminal damage to property. The unnamed girlfriend also faces potential charges. Bever faced a preliminary hearing Tuesday, where Judge Robert Rasmussen found the state had more than enough evidence to bind him over for trial. He is currently being held on a $5,000 cash bond, and makes his next appearance on June sixth, when he will be officially arraigned. Further charges may apply, as Bever reportedly told police that if they had captured him that morning during the high-speed chase, he would have killed the officers, because they quote, “were mean to him.”
