A shirtless male teenager allegedly smashed walls and windows inside Soda Lakes Lodge with wooden boards this past Wednesday before grabbing paddleboards and fleeing across the water with another male teen. The bizarre escape attempt on Big Soda Lake at Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood didn’t get either suspect very far, and both were taken into custody after paddling out to the middle of the lake.
According to CBS Colorado, Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies responded after Lakewood Park Rangers reported the shirtless male was inside the lodge yelling and smashing walls and windows with two-by-fours. As reported by the Denver Gazette, the incident happened Wednesday, when park rangers first placed the call to county law enforcement. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office described the call as anything but ordinary, per the station’s report.
A Getaway That Never Had a Chance
Soda Lakes Lodge sits along the swim beach at Big Soda Lake, where commercial vendor Rocky Mountain Paddleboard rents out stand-up paddleboards, kayaks, canoes, and pedal boats to visitors during its May-through-September season, according to Visit Denver. That's apparently where the two teens grabbed the paddleboards they used in their attempted getaway. But Big Soda Lake is restricted strictly to non-motorized craft such as paddleboards and kayaks, unlike the larger, 100-acre Bear Creek Lake nearby, which permits motorized watercraft, per Uncover Colorado.
That restriction meant Lakewood Park Rangers and Jefferson County deputies had to bring in a patrol boat of their own to reach the two suspects paddling out toward the middle of the lake. The sheriff's office thanked park rangers for helping deputies reach the pair, according to the same account from CBS Colorado. Both teens were eventually returned to shore and taken into custody.
Felony Charges Loom for Both Teens
The two teens now face charges of burglary and criminal trespass, per the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. Under Colorado Revised Statutes § 18-4-203, second-degree burglary involving a commercial building is classified as a Class 4 felony, a charge that can carry a presumptive sentence of two to six years in state prison for adult offenders, according to Justia Law. A related second-degree criminal trespass charge under § 18-4-503 applies to unauthorized entry into non-residential public or commercial properties, per Colorado.Public.Law.
Because both suspects are teenagers, their cases will likely be processed through Colorado's juvenile justice system, which emphasizes diversion, supervision, and rehabilitation rather than adult criminal penalties unless specific violent crime thresholds are met, according to the Sawyer Legal Group. The exact ages of the two suspects have not been released, and the full extent of the damage to Soda Lakes Lodge remains unclear.
A Park Built for Flood Control, Not Break-Ins
Bear Creek Lake Park spans 2,624 acres in Lakewood and includes three water bodies — Bear Creek Lake, Big Soda Lake, and Little Soda Lake — all sitting on federal flood-control land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and leased to the City of Lakewood, per Uncover Colorado. Lakewood Park Rangers operate under the city's Department of Community Resources and routinely partner with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and local fire districts on emergency responses and water rescues, according to West Metro Fire Rescue.
The park is one of the Front Range's most heavily visited regional recreational facilities, drawing hundreds of thousands of annual visitors for swimming, boating, fishing, and trail use near C-470 and Red Rocks Amphitheatre, according to Uncover Colorado. The lodge sits at the center of that traffic, making Wednesday's vandalism and paddleboard chase an unwelcome disruption at one of the area's busiest summer destinations.
