Fargo motorcyclist accused of fleeing deputies, injuring passenger in crash

MAPLETON, N.D. — A Fargo man is facing multiple charges after law enforcement said he fled from deputies on a motorcycle.

Cass County prosecutors filed charges Wednesday, April 19, against 41-year-old Jake Curtis Baumann. He is accused of possessing stolen property, fleeing, leaving the scene of an injury crash, refusal to halt and driving with a suspended license.

Baumann allegedly fled from Cass County Sheriff's deputies when he and two other motorcyclists were stopped at 36th Street Southeast and 164th Avenue Southeast near Mapleton for speeding, according to a criminal complaint. Officers did not pursue, a news release from the Sheriff's Office said.

The deputy who initiated the traffic stop was by himself when Baumann allegedly fled, Cass County Sheriff's Sgt. Timothy Briggeman told The Forum. The deputy called for additional deputies to help find Baumann while he spoke with the other motorcyclists, the sergeant said.

One of those responding deputies found that the motorcycle Baumann was driving had crashed a couple hundred yards from the traffic stop, the complaint said.

“Through investigation, deputies learned the motorcycle was reported stolen out of Fargo,” the release said.

Law enforcement set up a perimeter and deployed a drone and a West Fargo Police Department K-9 team, the release said. About an hour after finding the motorcycle, officers found Baumann and his passenger, Randi Rose Wright, in a nearby vehicle trailer, according to the complaint.

Wright was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a hospital, the complaint said. The uninjured Baumann was taken to the Cass County Jail.

Baumann has a lengthy criminal history in North Dakota that dates back to the early 2000s. Convictions include drug-related, burglary, robbery, theft, fleeing, assault, and accomplice and conspiracy to sexual assault charges.

His most recent charges came in 2020, when he pleaded guilty in several felony cases that included burglary, possessing drugs with intent to deliver, reckless endangerment and misdemeanor fleeing. He was sentenced in December 2020 to three years in prison followed by two years of supervised probation.