Violent Offender Quinn Scaggs Loose More Than a Week After Escape

More than a week after his escape from the troubled Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center, seventeen-year-old Quinn Scaggs, who's been deemed a violent offender by state authorities, remains at large.

The manhunt for Scaggs, who sports a large and distinctive facial tattoo (the word "Loyalty" is written in elaborate script above his right eye), continues. "We do not have any status updates," said a spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Human Services, which oversees the Lookout Mountain YSC, on July 2.

The center, located in Golden, was recently the site of a riot in which four inmates and ten staff members were injured. Days later, two sex offenders fled, but they were quickly rounded up, as has routinely been the case with others who've escaped the facility. That includes inmate Zachary Oliver, who got away after brutally beating a security guard with a rock-filled pillowcase in 2014.

The Golden Police Department took part in the capture of the aforementioned sex offenders: Javier Madera, nineteen, and Emilio Dominguez, seventeen. But according to GPD Deputy Chief Joe Harvey, his agency participated because the pair had returned to the Golden area after a car chase that ended in a crash. In most instances, the heavy lifting in the search for Lookout Mountain escapees is handled by other crews.

"The Division of Youth Services has a fugitive team," Harvey says. "It's a small squad, and they don't have police powers, but they're very good at surveillance and tracking down accomplices in places folks tend to go. But once they've spotted them, they'll use the local jurisdiction and some task forces to get the person into custody. We help with making contacts, phone calls, stuff like that, but we don't get involved in the hardcore search."

The concerns related to Scaggs are particularly acute given his criminal history. He made headlines in the Colorado Springs area last year after being caught on camera breaking into cars. But according to a knowledgeable source who spoke to Westword under the pledge of anonymity, his dangerous behavior reached a terrifying peak in October 2018, during an incident at the center's library involving a Lookout Mountain staff member.

According to the insider, Scaggs seemed ready to explode, and the employee, who was much smaller than the teen, tried to de-escalate him. In response, Scaggs allegedly lifted the employee off the ground and then started beating him before shoving the man into some metal shelving that ripped open a cheek and gashed the tearduct in one eye. After the assault, Scaggs is said to have stood over the victim's battered body and asked, "How does it feel to taste your own blood?"

The employee subsequently underwent several surgeries on his eye and face, but never returned to Lookout Mountain, the source divulges.

Scaggs is described as being a 6'2", 160-pound white male with blond hair and blue eyes. If you see him, you're encouraged to immediately dial 911.