A Minot man has been sentenced to serve a year and six months with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation after entering an Alford plea to a Class C felony theft charge.

Jeremiah William Baker, 24, Minot, entered his change of plea in North Central District Court on Friday. An Alford plea is a type of guilty plea where a defendant agrees to accept a sentence without admitting guilt.

According to court documents, a Ward County sheriff’s deputy observed an individual driving a four-wheeler in the wrong lane after leaving a gas station near Fourth Street Southeast and East Burdick Expressway in the early morning of Feb. 9. The driver of the four-wheeler fled from the traffic stop, but was identified as Baker by an employee of the gas station.

The Ward County Sheriff’s Department received a report later that day of a stolen ATV at a farm site the previous weekend, and deputies were informed by neighbors that a pickup truck was seen stuck in the driveway where the burglary occurred. A video of the ATV pursuit was shown to the victim, who identified the vehicle as the stolen four-wheeler based on a custom exhaust.

Baker was arrested on March 29 on a charge of fleeing, and messages were recovered showing he had asked another individual for help getting a truck unstuck the night the ATV was stolen. The ATV was located on April 3 at a Minot residence under a tarp in the backyard. The ATV had been spray painted black and the seat covered with a white fabric, but the VIN matched the vehicle registered to the victim. According to the affidavit, the four-wheeler was valued at $3,500.

Judge Douglas Mattson sentenced Baker to serve five years with the DOCR with all but 18 months suspended, to be followed by three years of supervised probation. Baker was ordered to have no contact with the victim, and to pay $525 in court fines and fees.