One of the Nicrophorus, perhaps?
Try BugGuide for insect IDs.

Here is a link that might be useful: a possibility

I'm no bug expert, but I happened to have worked with a beetle expert this past summer and he identified one of these for me. It appears to be a pleasing fungus beetle, genus Megalodacne. They eat the fruiting bodies of fungi so are no threat to you or your plants. They may actually be beneficial because some will eat fungi that are parasitic on trees.

Now I'm thinking mytime may be right. The Nicrophorus looks more like your beetle than the one I mentioned, as it appears to lack the shoulder spots of the Megalodacne.

Maybe this guy?
http://bugguide.net/node/view/21241

Look him up on Google Images to see variations in the orange stripes, also some of his relatives. [Probably the same as mytime's bug, but a different photo.]

[If my suggestion doesn't match your bug and nobody else here finds it, this is what you do:

Go to GW's main forum page. Click on "Forums" and from the drop-down menu, choose "Nature Forums."

One of the Nature Forums is "Insects." (I assume they do other creepy-crawlies too, since there are no forums for spiders or other bugs.)

GW does, however, have a "Butterflies" forum, as well as a "Pests & Diseases" garden forum.]

Thanks all! I freed the fellow after making sure he was a good guy. I did dispatch a few stink bugs. I don't need to ask if they are bad guys or not.

rhiz the bug expert.. hangs in the pest forum .... also known as the garden clinic forum ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link