A Mandan man, who was accused of eluding Dickinson police for nearly five hours following an attempted traffic stop and breaking into a residence and locking himself into the home with a family in September, pleaded guilty to multiple felony charges during Southwest District Court on Tuesday afternoon.
Daniel West, 30 of Mandan, pleaded guilty to theft of property, fleeing or attempting to elude an officer, criminal trespass and terrorizing-all of which are Class C felonies. In exchange for the guilty plea, West will serve three years at the North Dakota Department of Corrections, with all but 18 months suspended.
He also pleaded guilty to Class A misdemeanor criminal trespass and Class B misdemeanor refusing to halt. For those charges West will serve one year and 30 days, respectively, at the state department of corrections. All sentences will run concurrently and West will receive credit for time served.
On Sept. 29, West was allegedly driving a stolen blue 2009 Nissan Sentra on the 500 block of Second Avenue Southeast around 8 a.m. The vehicle had been reported stolen from Bismarck the previous day, according to a police report. West fled from police for a short distance before he abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot.
While eluding officers on foot, West broke into a garage, was confronted by its residents and then fled again. He continued to elude police on foot for some time and attempted to hide in multiple yards on the south side of Dickinson.
Police said West eventually broke into another garage and entered the attached residence. That residents were also home
After seeing police, West locked himself in the residence with the family. The front door was breached by officers as West escaped through a back window.
West was chased down by officers and taken into custody around 12:50 p.m., nearly five hours after the case began.
During the pretrial conference West apologized for his actions and to anyone he may have harmed or scared that day. He told Southwest District Judge Rhonda Ehlis that he did not intend to hurt anyone with his actions.
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Following his sentence West will be placed on supervised probation.
