“I’ll have to wait for the investigation to be complete, because it would be very uncharacteristic for John to do something like this,” Stegner said.įirefighters across the north metro spent Monday fighting a string of grass fires. He also served on the local Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors, and his car dealership was named “Business of the Year” in 2006.īerken “always went out of his way to help other people,” said Forest Lake Mayor Stev Stegner.īerken’s arrest came as a surprise to him, the mayor said. He and three other firefighters received the city’s Public Safety Distinguished Service Award in 2006 for rescuing a snowmobiler who went into the St. It was geared to fight wildfires.īerken was paid $16.25 an hour - the department’s top pay for volunteer firefighters - to fight Monday’s blaze, Robinson said.īefore Monday’s fires, Berken was considered a good firefighter and neighbor. The same year Berken became a Forest Lake firefighter, his dealership donated a 2005 Ford F350 pickup truck valued at $61,000 to the department. He couldn’t say for sure whether Berken’s background was investigated. He didn’t know how far back the check went or what would disqualify an applicant from becoming a firefighter. Sigfrinius, the fire chief, oversees firefighter hiring, which includes a criminal background check, said City Administrator Chip Robinson. The bankrupt dealership later closed.Ĭity officials said they were unaware of Berken’s legal problems.
A federal court ordered a receiver to manage the assets of the dealership while Berken figured out how to repay that debt. But he became embroiled in a lawsuit when he was accused him of failing to repay a credit card company almost $4 million in cash advances. State court records indicate Berken also has several check forgery and theft convictions and served about 20 months in prison in the mid-1990s.īy 2008, Berken was part owner and president of Forest Lake Ford. He was sentenced in federal court to a year in prison for making false radio transmissions. He was convicted that year of calling a local airport and threatening to blow it up. “More sad than anything.”īerken has a lengthy history of legal and financial troubles that date as far back as 1991.