Steamboat Pilot & Today

A man has been charged with second-degree burglary after more than $10,000 was stolen from the Ski Area's Rendezvous Saddle, but it could be almost two years before he stands trial.

Last week, the District Attorney's Office filed charges against Jonathan Doda. The 26-year-old man is serving a two-year sentence in the Fort Lyons Correctional Facility for two counts of aggravated motor vehicle theft stemming from charges in Boulder County.

Doda will not be brought to the 14th Judicial District Court in Steamboat Springs until he is close to the end of his first sentence. A Boulder County Court spokesperson said Doda was sentenced to jail April 4, and he started serving his sentence after that date.

Routt County Sheriff's Investigator Rachelle Redmond said they have identified another man in the burglary, but she was uncomfortable releasing his name. The sheriff's office has yet to locate and interview the second suspect.

The sheriff's office believes two men committed the crime, based on the two sets of tracks investigators found leading up to the building.

The district attorney charged Doda with breaking into a building with the intent to commit a crime and criminal mischief, possessing and using or knowing someone would use a tool to forcibly enter the building and safe, taking between $500 to $15,000 from the safe, and doing $500 to $15,000 worth of damage to the safe.

The burglary occurred in the early morning hours of Feb. 28 at Rendezvous Saddle, which is halfway down the High Noon run at the ski area. About $10,800 was taken from the safe.

Doda was pinpointed in the case when his DNA, which was taken when he entered the Department of Corrections, matched a DNA sample taken from a Sobe bottle and hair found at the crime scene.

Doda's DNA was put into the Combined DNA Index System, a computer database set up to provide DNA profiles for convicted offenders. The match from that system cannot be used in court, so the sheriff's office obtained a search warrant June 3 to take samples directly from Doda.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is testing the saliva and hair samples taken from Doda. Redmond said those results have not been released.

Doda was a resident of Pitkin County at the time of the burglary and there is no indication that he ever lived in Steamboat or was employed in the ski area, Redmond said.

Earlier this month, the sheriff's office gathered evidence from Doda's car, which is impounded in Pitkin County.