At around 4:00 AM on April 12, 2026, Deputy Pantelis saw a green Ford Explorer with no front license plate and a rear license plate that could not be read on County Road E East. Deputy Pantelis activated his squad’s emergency lights to stop the Explorer on County Road E East near McKnight Road, White Bear Lake, Ramsey County. The Explorer fled and accelerated away from Deputy Pantelis. The Explorer occasionally drove into the lane of oncoming traffic as it fled. The Explorer successfully avoided stop sticks.
Another squad successfully stopped the Explorer by performing a PIT maneuver at the top of the exit ramp on Stillwater Boulevard. The driver got out of the Explorer’s driver’s seat. He verbally identified himself as N. L. B., [DOB REDACTED], and said he had ingested narcotics. Officers arrested him and his female passenger (who had a misdemeanor warrant), and took them first to Regions Hospital (located in St. Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota) to be medically evaluated before bringing them to the jail.
Deputies found a bag of white powder, suspected to be nartcotics, in the driver’s pants pocket at the hospital. When they transported him to the jail, they were unable to complete fingerprinting because his hands were wounded. His appearance was similar to DVS and jail photographs for the name he provided, so deputies booked him as N. L. B., [DOB REDACTED]. The driver was charged by order for detention in court file 62-CR-26-2490 with Felony 5th Degree Drug Possession and Fleeing Police in a Motor Vehicle.
He was charged under the name and date of birth he gave to deputies when he was arrested – and that is a real person. It was not discovered until after he made his court appearance that he is in fact Nicholas Donald Dellich, [DOB REDACTED], which has been verified by fingerprinting. Dellich has active warrants in other counties: 1. 19HA-CR-26-509 – a felony complaint warrant for Fleeing Police in a Motor Vehicle, offense date 4/8/2026; 2. 02-CR-24-3319 – a probation violation warrant dated March 12, 2026, two days after he was remanded to the Anoka County Workhouse to serve 180 days.
Deputies found 39 pieces of mail addressed to other people and a Minnesota license plate [PLATE REDACTED] in the Explorer. The Explorer bore a rear Wisconsin plate AYW1797. The Explorer’s VIN revealed it should have displayed the Minnesota license plate. The contents of the bag recovered from him tested positive for the presence of methamphetamine and weighed 1.06 grams. Dellich is currently in custody, following his 1st appearance in the originally charged matter. The state requests an order for detention and appearance on the first available calendar, with a new review of conditions of released based upon his actual identity.
