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Officers track ATV stolen in Elk River to Princeton, make arrestBy Joel Stottrup Four law enforcement agencies tracked a four-wheel all-terrain vehicle, stolen in Elk River, to a residence in Princeton on Tuesday last week and arrested the suspect in its theft. The suspect, Mark Bucholz, 23, Princeton, has been formally charged with burglary and possession of stolen property. School children and residents noticed something unusual Tuesday afternoon last week on the north side of the city that pointed to something going on. What drew some looks was a helicopter continually circling above the area and various police cars on Seventh Avenue North, the road that runs past North Elementary. By mid-afternoon, Sherburne County authorities had already begun what would turn out to be an achievement involving cooperation, persistence and work by many officers in finding the stolen ATV. The events of the afternoon began when the Elk River Police Department received a call shortly after 2 p.m. that there had been a forced residential burglary on the west edge of the city. A garage had been broken into and someone had made off with a new Honda four- wheeler. As Sherburne County community service officer James Hintermeister and Sheriff Bruce Anderson put it, the suspect picked the "wrong place and wrong time." Within three hours of the call to Elk River, noted Sherburne Chief Deputy Scott Gudmundson, Bucholz had been arrested. Authorities followed the ATV tracks in the new snow, going north on Sherburne County Road 15 into Big Lake Township. They were helped in finding the tracks by a Sherburne County dispatcher who remembered seeing an ATV matching the description of the stolen one a short time before arriving at work. With a description of the rider as well, authorities searched the area of County Road 15. Also assisting was a State Patrol helicopter and the ATV was tracked to the south edge of Princeton city limits. Princeton police received the call to help at 2:51 p.m. and began looking on foot. But by the time Sgt. Brian Payne arrived at 3:40 p.m. to begin the late shift, police had lost the tracks of the ATV on the south side of the river where it runs alongside the business district. Payne checked around and found from talking with a father and son that they had seen the ATV heading in the direction of a particular residence on the north end. Payne was then able to relocate the ATV tracks and followed them to a residence along Seventh Avenue North. The owner of the residence complied in allowing police to search the premises. Police found the stolen ATV inside the garage and arrested Bucholz, who was a renter there, at the residence. Elk River Assistant Police Chief Jeff Beahen said Monday that it wasn't so much the loss of an ATV as it was the burglary that prompted dispatching the State Patrol helicopter to help. When someone's home is broken into, they worry that the burglar might return. So it was a crime to take seriously, Beahen said. "If someone breaks into a house, people can get hurt or worse," he continued. "We don't want that type of criminal around." Beahen added that the ATV was valued at about $7,000. Beahen was still amazed Monday that authorities were able to connect the tracks of the ATV that began at the burglarized residence in Elk River and went all the way to Princeton. As a crow flies it is 18 miles, but considering the path of the stolen ATV, it was more than 20 miles, he said. "Quite honestly, with a track of this length, it would have been easy to dismiss the trail as being too unlikely of even being related," Beahen said. "As it turns out, these vigilant deputies were indeed on the right trail." Gudmundson called the case a "shining example of a cooperative effort between agencies that are all seeking a common outcome." Princeton Union-Eagle |