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Man arrested on sixth domestic violence charge
Man who helped cop killer in trouble again
Jailed on sixth domestic violence charge
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A man who was sentenced in 2003 for his role in helping another man who killed a city police officer was arrested early Tuesday morning on his sixth domestic-violence charge.
Jonathan Kuzan, 33, is in the Mahoning County jail awaiting arraignment in municipal court after city police teamed up with Austintown police and arrested him about 2 a.m. at a 76 Drive hotel.
Reports said he had fled there after throwing a woman against a wall, taking their daughter and more than $500 in cash and driving away in her car about 9:20 p.m. from his Sheridan Road home.
The daughter, who is 7, and another juvenile were in the hotel room with him, reports state.
He faces charges of aggravated burglary and domestic violence.
In 2003, Kuzan was one of four men charged with obstruction of justice for allowing Martin Koliser Jr. to shower and change at his home after police say Koliser wounded a man in the parking lot of a West Side bar and murdered city Patrolman Michael Hartzell downtown on West Federal Street on April 29, 2003.
At the time, Kuzan said as Koliser showered in the upstairs of his home he was watching television coverage of the shooting but Koliser had not yet been named a suspect. He said then had he known, he would not have allowed Koliser to use his home to clean up before driving to Florida, where he was captured and returned to Youngstown to face trial for Hartzell’s death.
Koliser was convicted and sentenced to death but he committed suicide in prison before the sentence could be carried out.
Police said Kuzan lied about Koliser’s being at his home and throwing his dirty clothes in the trash. Kuzan said he lied to protect his cousin, who was a friend of Koliser’s, and that he did not know Koliser.
He was released from prison in November 2003 after serving about six months after he applied for judicial release.
Since then, Mahoning County court records show he has been arrested five times for domestic violence; twice in 2008 in Boardman and Canfield; once in 2010 in Austintown, 2011 in Boardman and 2012 in Youngstown.
In the latest case, he pleaded guilty in January and was sentenced to community control in February by Common Pleas Judge Lou D’Apolito.
Reports said the woman at the Sheridan Road home did have injuries to her hand and arm.
Police were able to find Kuzan at the hotel by tracking his cellphone, reports said.
He is expected to be arraigned in municipal court today.