He allegedly erased cell phone records related to the case
The brother of a teenager charged in the hit-and-run death of a Hudson’s Bay teacher has been arrested for allegedly erasing cell phone records that are believed to implicate his brother.
Geno J. Lozensky, 21, also is accused of lying to police, saying he didn’t know about the Sept. 15 crash that killed Gordon Patterson — though he was later found to be with his brother, Antonio Cellestine, the day of the crash.
Lozensky made his first appearance in Clark County Superior Court on Wednesday morning on suspicion of felony hit-and-run on an aiding and abetting theory and making a false statement to a public servant.
Superior Court Judge John Wulle set Lozensky’s bail at $20,000 and appointed attorney Matthew Hoff to represent him.
Arraignment was set for Nov. 18.
Lozensky was interviewed Sept. 17 by police officers about the fatal traffic collision. He allegedly said he was out of town and staying at a friend’s house, so he knew nothing about the crash, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by the Vancouver Police Department.
An officer later contacted the friend to corroborate Lozensky’s statements. The friend said Lozensky allegedly told him to lie and that Lozensky was actually with Cellestine the day of the crash.
Two days later, officers seized a taped jail conversation between Cellestine and Lozensky where Lozensky allegedly said he had deleted phone conversations and text messages that Cellestine made following the accident, according to the affidavit.
Officers learned Cellestine had called Lozensky “multiple” times immediately after the accident.
The affidavit did not detail how the cell phone records implicated Cellestine in the traffic accident, but stated “cell phone conversations and text messages have proven to be one of the determining factors in the actual accident.”
Also Sept. 17 — the same day police say Lozensky lied to them — he gave an interview to KGW-TV, saying his brother had been trying to turn his life around before his arrest.
“He’s a good kid, he got in a little trouble when he was younger, but he changed his life around,” Lozensky said, according to a KGW Web site story. “(He) graduated high school, he was about to start college, he had a job, we just got an apartment.”
Lozensky also expressed sympathy to Patterson’s family.
“I do feel sorry for the teacher’s family that got hit, but it’s really a loss for both families,” Lozensky said in the KGW Web story.
Lozensky was arrested at 5:50 p.m. Tuesday.
Patterson, 50, a popular technology teacher at Bay, was riding in a bicycle lane on the uphill portion of Northeast St. Johns Road just north of 41st Street when he was struck by a car at about 4 p.m. Sept. 15.
The car sped away; Patterson was pronounced dead at the scene.
An officer searching the area found a man who matched the witness’ description of the hit-and-run driver and found a Plymouth Breeze with front-end and windshield damage parked in the 2400 block of 45th Street, about a half mile from the crash scene.
Cellestine was questioned by police later that evening at his apartment at 4117 St. Johns Road, about a half-block from the accident scene, and then taken into custody.
Two weeks later, a friend of Cellestine’s, Kelsey D. Curtis, 18, of Vancouver was arrested and also accused of aiding Cellestine.
Police said Curtis made up an alibi for Cellestine and also went so far as to throw the key to Cellestine’s car out a car window and into a field to dissuade police from believing he still had possession of the car.
Curtis will be arraigned Dec. 2.
Laura McVicker: 360-735-4516 or laura.mcvicker@columbian.com.
