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Man jailed for coverup in bike death

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August 7, 2008

by Tim Troglen

Reporter

Maple Heights -- Three months after a woman was sentenced to six months in prison for the hit-and-run death of a Maple Heights bicyclist, a male passenger in her car received a five-year sentence for trying to cover up the accident.

Anthony Hominsky, 20, of Maple Heights, was sentenced July 24 after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice and falsification, both first-degree misdemeanors. He also pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony, in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

Hominsky was in the Cuyahoga County Jail and could not be reached for comment. Edward W. Rausch, his attorney, did not return calls for comment.

Hominsky's family could not be reached for comment.

Hominsky was arrested and charged March 17, along with then-19-year-old Samantha R. Rauch, of Richfield, who is serving six months in the county jail after being found guilty in April in Garfield Heights Municipal Court of vehicular homicide, a first-degree misdemeanor.

According to Garfield Heights Police Officer Tom Piasecki, 54-year-old Michael Gedeon was bicycling westbound on the sidewalk along Granger Road just before the Interstate 480 entrance ramp when a passing vehicle apparently jumped the curb and struck him.

The driver fled, police said. Another driver found Gedeon lying in the street and called 911.

Gedeon was taken to the hospital and died the next day from "massive injuries," police said.

There were no witnesses and the investigation stalled, police said. But thanks in part to a memorial set up by his family along the road where Gedeon was struck, police received an anonymous tip that led them to investigate Hominsky, said Garfield Heights Police Capt. Tom Kaiser.

The investigation led police to believe that Rauch was driving a 1991 Toyota Camry which hit Gedeon.

Police accused Hominsky, who was also in the car, of switching places with Rauch and driving to an apartment in Broadview Heights, according to police.

There, police alleged, Rauch and Hominsky tried to hide evidence of the accident by smashing out the driver's and passenger's windows of the vehicle and removing the CD player, making it look like the car had been vandalized.

Hominsky then filed a police report stating the car had been vandalized and junked the car the same day, police said.

E-mail: TTroglen@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3165




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