Charges:
Felony Harassment, Felony Telephone Harassment (Cyberstalking), Felony Threats to Bomb or Injure Property, Misdemeanor Violation of No Contact Order - Case Pending
Summary:
On the evening of July 23rd, I was walking to a friend’s house in downtown Seattle when two unmarked vehicles approached me near Columbia Street and 4th Avenue. The vehicles pulled over abruptly, and the occupants asked if my name was Jonathan Nelson. I looked over and told them that was not my name, but before I could finish my sentence, several individuals jumped out and grabbed my arms.
From what I remember, they were not wearing standard police uniforms, and no agency name was visible on either their clothing or the vehicles. They removed the backpack I was carrying, handcuffed me without any explanation, and did not read me my Miranda rights. They had me sit on the curb while they inspected the contents of my bag.
Strangely, one of them then pulled something out of his pocket and walked over to me—it was a photocopy of a man’s passport and Social Security card. The man pictured was older and looked nothing like me. The officer asked why that document had been found in the backpack I was carrying. I told them it had absolutely no connection to me—it wasn’t mine, and it had never been in my possession.
Despite this, they placed me under arrest—again, without reading me my rights—put me into one of the unmarked vehicles, and drove me to the county jail just a few blocks away.
It was only during the booking process at the jail that I was finally informed of the charges against me. They included felony harassment, telephone harassment, cyberstalking, threats against the mayor of Seattle and a Seattle detective, violation of a no-contact order (a misdemeanor), and felony threats to bomb or damage property at the University of Washington and Harborview Medical Research Center. They also took my phone and logged it as evidence for my case—giving them full access to my device, even though no warrant had been issued at the time. After being booked, I was transferred to a facility outside of the city because only half of the county jail was operating due to COVID-19 social distancing laws still in effect.
A couple of days later, I had a video conference call with Amy Parker, the public defender assigned to my case. During the call, she informed me that the police claimed they found emails, phone calls, and posts on a Twitter account allegedly threatening and harassing government officials and law enforcement officers. This, she said, was enough for them to use probable cause to track my location and arrest me. Before ending the call, she told me court was scheduled for August 10th and that she would meet me there.
On the day of court, Amy and I met briefly before appearing before the judge. She handed me the court paperwork and a report from the police investigation and instructed me not to say anything while we were in front of the judge. In court, Amy suggested it would be in my best interest to raise the issue of competency and have a mental health evaluation done instead of proceeding to trial.
At the time, I wasn’t sure what that meant, and frankly, it bothered me. I felt mentally sound—just frustrated that no one seemed interested in hearing my side of the story. Amy explained that a competency evaluation would take place followed by a competency hearing to determine if I needed to be sent to an inpatient facility to be "restored" in order to stand trial. Afterward, she told me someone would contact me from from the DSHS to do the evaluation then she would contact me to let me know when the competency hearing would be scheduled.
Once court ended, I was taken back to the facility outside the city to await my next hearing. A month passed with no word from Amy. Then, a man named Kevin came to meet with me. He told me he was a mitigation specialist working with Amy on my case. Kevin asked me a few questions related to the charges and about my overall well-being. I appreciated that he took the time to listen—it made me feel slightly better about the situation and a little more optimistic that the case might eventually be dismissed.
On September 2nd, I was called into the release planner’s office to meet with someone from the county. They told me they wanted to ask a few questions for something called a "needs report," explaining that it would help the county better understand what services they could offer to those released from jail. I was told my responses would be confidential and would not be used against me or my case, so I decided to participate and answer their questions.
About a week later, someone from the court delivered paperwork to my cell. It was a court order signed by Judge Melinda Young, mandating a 45-day inpatient restoration at Western State Hospital. I was confused when I read it—no competency evaluation had ever taken place, and I had never been given a date for a competency hearing.
The order referenced an evaluation supposedly completed on August 31st and stated that I would be transferred to the inpatient facility within 14 days of the order’s issuance. It also listed the next court date as October 19th. The judge’s signature was on the document, but my attorney’s was not. Instead, it simply read “approved on record” in the space where her signature should have been.
It struck me as deeply strange that a hearing of this importance could have occurred without either me or my attorney present. I immediately used my free phone call to contact Amy Parker and left her a message.
When I didn’t hear back, I wrote to the release planner at the jail and asked if she could find out more about the evaluation mentioned in the order and help me get in touch with my attorney. A few days later, she responded, saying the evaluation was not part of jail services and advised me to contact my attorney directly. I sent her another message, again asking for help reaching Amy.
Keep in mind—sending messages or “kites” while in jail is painfully slow, but it’s the only way to access services. I finally received a response from the release planner on October 22, which was already after the court-ordered transfer date had passed—and I still hadn’t been moved to the inpatient facility.
Her message read:
Hello Mr. Lozenich, I wanted to let you know that per Amy Parker, she is still your attorney and working on your behalf. According to Amy, you have a motion hearing scheduled for 10/27/21. She stated that it is possible you could win and be released. Seeing that you could be getting out next week, I have re-scheduled an appointment with DSHS so that you can re-apply for benefits. The appointment is scheduled for 9:30 AM Monday.
Based on her message, I assumed I wouldn’t need to be transferred to the inpatient facility after all—especially since the court order date had already lapsed and there was a chance of release. I responded saying I would not be applying for benefits at that time and repeated my earlier request for a copy of the August 31st evaluation.
Before committing to anything with DSHS, I wanted to know what that evaluation contained—especially if it included any conditions, like a requirement for outpatient treatment. DSHS oversees both Western State Hospital and competency evaluations, so I believed it was critical to know exactly what was documented before moving forward.
Then, on October 26, the state submitted an affidavit to the court, which was reviewed at a hearing on October 28. I wasn’t given the opportunity to review the state’s filing, so I was left in the dark about how my attorney was planning to respond. Another hearing was scheduled for late November.
On November 22, the day of that next hearing, I was taken out of my cell and lined up with other inmates for transport. When the officers called out names for the courthouse, they stopped at mine and told me I was not going to court, but instead being transferred to Western State Hospital.
This abrupt change felt deceptive and unsettling. I had assumed the inpatient transfer was off the table, and now I was being rerouted without clear explanation. It made me question the legitimacy of the process and whether I could trust what was happening.
Upon arrival at the hospital, I was forced to take a COVID booster Then I was ordered to take 20mg of olanzapine after a mandatory meeting with the facility psychiatrist, supposedly as part of a "restoration" plan.
When I asked why I was being medicated, the psychiatrist said it was due to a meeting I had with DSHS back in 2017, which he claimed showed signs of anxiety or a similar issue. In truth, that 2017 interaction was just a stressful visit to apply for food stamps after struggling to find work. I left the DSHS office early because I felt overwhelmed by the lack of privacy during the interview. A few days later, the office manager called and invited me to finish the process privately in her office.
That’s it. There was no evaluation at that time or interview — just a routine, incomplete benefits appointment. I can only assume that because DSHS and Western State Hospital are interconnected, someone used that minor incident to retroactively justify the restoration order, despite no formal competency evaluation ever being conducted prior to my transfer.
By January I had finished the restoration program early and was released from Western State Hospital and returned to the county jail. I was anticipating a trial, but my attorney advised having the case moved to "mental health court" which would allow me to get released from jail and have the charges dropped provided I complete an 18 month program after release. Still, I would have preferred to stand trial and speak to the judge about the details of my case, but my attorney said if my case went to trial and the jury found me guilty, I would have go back to jail for up to 18 months. Since another option was not presented to me and the thought of staying in jail or having to go back to jail sounded awful, we decided to proceeded with her option to move the case. By the end of January I was released from jail, however there was no mention of the case being moved to mental health court or an order to complete any program listed as conditions of release.
Notes:
- According to the U.S. Bomb Data Center, the number of bomb threats in the United States increased in 2021. The center, which is run by the U.S. Department of Justice, reported 1,876 bomb threats and 4,935 suspicious or unattended packages in 381 bombing-related incidents in 2021. This was a 56% increase in explosive incidents from 2015
- According to Check Point Research, cyberattacks increased 50% year-over-year, with each organization facing 925 cyberattacks per week globally. As per the statistics, businesses witnessed 50% more attacks per week in 2021 compared to 2020.
- Prior to this arrest my personal information was exposed in a data breach by the WA state unemployment office and a few of my email accounts, contacts and apps were hacked. I contacted several local government officials to report this issue as they were responsible for the data breach initially, but did not get a response from any of them.
- Since the protection order was still in place, I was not able to go to back to the house I was living in and had a lease for. This made finding a job very difficult.
- I was and still am a victim of voice to skull torture or electronic harassment which has caused pain to my head and body, extreme exhaustion and emotional distress. The abusers can see through my eyes and hear what I hear. I believe this was being used as a form of espionage to get information about my case and other inmates in my cell. I reported the issue several times, but none of the jail staff would look into it.
- The terrorists using the voice to skull on me forced me to hear a bus blow up with passengers on it. I am not sure where they were but they threatened blowing up an airplane as well.
