EAST GRAND FORKS -- A Grand Forks man facing felony charges for driving a stolen vehicle was alerted to authorities after having strange conversations with children in East Grand Forks, police say.
Joseph Izell McKeaver, 28, has been charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and bringing stolen goods into the state, both felonies.
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McKeaver allegedly spoke to children at two different residential areas of East Grand Forks Wednesday, according to police Detective Tony Hart.
鈥淗e didn鈥檛 leave the truck as far as we know,鈥� Hart said.
But the truck, a red Chevrolet pickup, wasn鈥檛 his.
According to the criminal complaint, police were contacted at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday by a woman who said a man driving a red Chevrolet pickup had offered her children money to get into the vehicle. One of the children took down the license plate number. When police ran the plate number, they discovered the vehicle had been reported stolen by a Grand Forks man.
Officers located the vehicle at the intersection of 20th Street Northwest and Minn. Highway 220. Police say McKeaver had an open beer in the car, and had just under the legal limit of alcohol in his system.
Officers talked with two pairs of juveniles who had been approached by McKeaver, one group in the1400 block of Sixth Avenue Northwest, and another on 19th Street Northwest. Both groups said they鈥檇 been offered money to get into the vehicle, and both had run away. One 9-year-old took down the license plate.
Officers talked to the Grand Forks man who had reported the vehicle stolen Wednesday. He told them he parked the car near his apartment in Grand Forks about 9 a.m. and returned to find it gone around 11:30 a.m. He said he left the keys in the console.
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When officers spoke to McKeaver, he told them he is currently living in the Ambassador Hotel in Grand Forks. McKeaver told officers he didn鈥檛 think it was wrong to take the truck because the keys were in it when he found it. He said he had mental health problems and had not taken his medication for about five weeks.
Hart told the Herald McKeaver is originally from Iowa and has a lengthy criminal record in several states.
