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Man indicted on 4 counts of aggravated arson

Also indicted on other charges from 2 other incidents

YOUNGSTOWN — Damon L. Williams, 36, of Brentwood Avenue in Austintown, was indicted Thursday on four counts of aggravated arson in an April 3 fire at a home on Almyra Avenue on the South Side.

Youngstown police filed the arson charges against Williams on April 11. If convicted, Williams could get about 40 years in prison.

Police were called to the house late April 3 for a possible fight and spoke with a woman, who said Wiliams would not leave her home, a police report states. Williams told police he lived there six for seven months. After much yelling between Williams and the woman, Williams said he would leave, the report states. Williams went inside and gathered clothing the woman said she had washed for him, as well as shoes and other personal items. He put the items in a car and left.

Immediately after that, the woman started yelling from inside the home that something in the house was on fire, the report states. Officers saw smoke coming from a window. The Youngstown Fire Department was called, but police officers also entered the home with a fire extinguisher and sprayed it on the fire. The fire department arrived to finish putting out the fire, which fire officials said started in a closet, the report states.

In addition to the woman, there were people in an attached second-story apartment in the building.

When Williams was removing property from the home, he was smoking a cigarette, officers stated in the report. It is unclear when he discarded it, the report notes.

Williams also was indicted on other charges related to two other incidents.

He was indicted on charges of felony assault, obstructing official business, cocaine possession and misdemeanor assault and resisting arrest as a result of Oct. 22 incidents out of Austintown, according to his indictments.

In that incident, Austintown police responded to a domestic violence complaint in the township. Police tried to get Williams to come outside and speak with them, but he told police he needed to grab his belongings, according to Vindicator files.

Williams grabbed some items while the woman went to her bedroom, according to a police report. Williams then followed her, cornering her between her bed and the wall. The officer got between them and directed Williams outside, the report states.

The report states the officer tried several times to get the man to sit in a chair, but Williams shoved the officer, causing the officer to land on his back and lose his breath and also bruise his hip before Williams ran through backyards and across Westminster Avenue. Police then captured him and searched him, finding a bag of cocaine in his pocket, the report states.

As police were taking him to the cruiser, Williams refused to identify himself. The woman identified the man and said he was her ex-boyfriend. She told police she picked him up and they started to argue, the report states.

She told police a scuffle ensued and she was cut by scissors in the process, the report states. She then locked Williams out of the house, but he pushed an air conditioning unit from a window and climbed through. She told police he slapped her in the face, and they fought.

She said the fighting ended when she threw cold grease in his face and called 911. Williams also was indicted Thursday on felony failure to comply with the order of a police officer and obstructing official business for an April 14 incident that came through Mahoning County Area Court in Canfield, according to Williams’ indictments and court records. No details on those charges were available.

Other people indicted Thursday are:

•  Jeffrey Black, 59, East Earle Avenue, two counts of theft from a person in a protected class and one count of misdemeanor unauthorized use of a vehicle.

•   Justin F. Moore, 34, Willis Avenue, two counts of public indecency.

• Randolph M. Jeter Sr., 36, Wesley Avenue, robbery and misdemeanor assault and aggravated menacing.

•   Michael A. Greco, 55, Mahoning County jail, trespass into a habitation when a person is present or likely to be present, identify fraud, falsification and misdemeanor obstructing official business.

•   Michelle M. Rudolphi, 64, Mahoning County jail, grand theft of a motor vehicle and receiving stolen property.

•   Antasia G. McMeans, 25, DuPont Street, felony vandalism.

•   Robert W. Farmer, 47, Mahoning County jail, two counts of felonious assault.

•   Caleb J. Edmonds, 22, Burning Tree Lane, Liberty, fentanyl related compound possession, two counts of aggravated drug possession and one count of misdemeanor drug possession.

•   Tirone N. Moore, 37, New Road, Austintown, being a felon in possession of a firearm, tampering with evidence and carrying a concealed weapon.

•   Alyssa D. Shaffer, 26, Mahoning County jail, failure to comply with the order of a police officer and obstructing official business.

• Quincy L. Boone, 30, Dorothy Avenue, fentanyl related compound possession with a specification of forfeiture of money in a drug case, being a felon in possession of a firearm, improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle and aggravated drug possession with a specification of forfeiture of money in a drug case.

•   Eric J. Kopnitsky, 36, Mahoning County jail, fentanyl related compound possession and obstructing official business.

•   Seandale A. Thompkins, 18, Mahoning County jail, failure to comply with the order of a police officer and obstructing official business.

•   Jacob T. Holliday, 18, Holliday Ledge Road, Garrettsville, failure to comply with the order of a police officer.

•   Robert B. Eskridge, 29, Garfield Heights, Ohio, identity fraud and grand theft of a motor vehicle.

•   Dale P. Field, 44, Gertrude Place, failure to verify an address.

•  Shane M. Waites, 33, Mahoning County jail, failure to provide a change of address.

•   Bane E. Kjerrumgaard, 34, Barberton, failure to verify an address.

• Brandon L. Hellman, 24, West Bon Aire Avenue, tampering with evidence.

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