Former Nuggets player arrested in Castle Rock shoplifting vodka

A former Denver Nuggets player was arrested in Castle Rock after police say he walked out of a store with a bottle of Tito’s vodka and took a drink from it before officers arrived. The call came in at about 8:03 p.m. on July 16, and a routine shoplifting complaint quickly turned into a scene tied to a recognizable name.

The arrest affidavit says the shop owner saw a man enter the store, take the vodka and leave. The owner also told investigators she witnessed the man drink from the bottle before police got there, a detail that made the incident stand out beyond a standard low-value theft report.

When officers arrived, they arrested the man at the scene. FOX31 identified him as Tywon Lawson, the former Nuggets player connected to the case.

Lawson faces a charge of theft less than $300, shoplifting. That charge puts the case in the lowest-dollar tier of retail theft allegations, but the affidavit gave it unusual visibility because of who police say was involved and because the report happened in a Castle Rock store, not in a sports arena or at a public event.

For Douglas County readers, the case is the kind of local law enforcement file that rarely carries outside attention unless the name in the report is familiar. Here, the combination of a bottle of vodka, a store owner’s eyewitness account and the immediate arrest at the scene turned a small theft allegation into a headline-worthy police matter.