YOUNGSTOWN — Will A. Jones, 59, the man accused of starting fires at three occupied homes in the city containing a combined 14 people on Nov. 22 and 23, as well as starting four vehicle fires, has been indicted on 14 counts of aggravated arson with specifications of being a repeat violent-offender.

Those 14 charges could result in Jones getting more than 100 years in prison if convicted.

Jones is in the Mahoning County jail and is likely to be arraigned on those and four other lower-level felony arson charges in the coming weeks. Authorities have not discussed a motive for his actions.

But this is not the first time Jones has been charged with arson. He was sentenced to nine years in prison in Cuyahoga County in 2017 after setting a fire on Guthrie Avenue in Cleveland Aug. 3, 2016, according to Cuyahoga County records.

Jones had been released from prison in July and was sent to Youngstown for re-entry services at a halfway house on Willis Avenue on the South Side.

The first of his residential fires was at the halfway house, where eight of his housemates were at the time he set the early-morning fire. Jones was not there when firefighters arrived, said Youngstown Fire Investigator Charles Hodge.

The Willis fire was at 4:16 a.m. Nov. 22. One minor injury resulted. The next morning, at 4:17 a.m., Jones admitted to setting the fire of a family of five — four of whom were home — on Oak Hill Avenue not far north of the county’s Oakhill office building.

Luckily, a 7-year-old was awake in the living room and awoke her father to the flames on the front porch, and everyone got out safely. The porch and the rest of the house were destroyed.

“I guess it’s just the grace of God the way the events lined up,” Keith Logan told The Vindicator

The third residential fire took place a half a block east of the Oak Hill Avenue fire at 10:47 p.m. Nov. 23. Two women were home but escaped. The fire destroyed a garage behind the house and reached the back of the house.

Hodge said Jones apparently had no other connection to Youngstown than being sent there from prison. Hodge said Jones admitted to starting all three residential fires and multiple car fires.

SHERIDAN INDICTMENT

Also indicted Tuesday was Ryan P. Sheridan, 45, on charges of third-degree felony abduction and misdemeanor domestic violence in an Oct. 23 incident at a home in Austintown.

Sheridan is the former owner of Braking Point Recovery Center. Sheridan was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 7 1/2 years in federal prison in January 2020 after he and five associates were convicted of 60 charges, including Medicaid fraud, in what federal prosecutors called a “massive health care fraud” involving Braking Point from 2015 to 2017.

An Austintown police report states that charges were filed against Sheridan after police were sent to a home for a domestic altercation, and the suspect, Sheridan, had fled in a black Cadillac.

When officers spoke with the victim, she said Sheridan is her boyfriend and they lived together for more than a year, then broke up about 10 months ago and started dating again recently. She said Sheridan was not living with her at the time of the incident.

She said she and Sheridan argued, and Sheridan “came chasing after her and grabbed onto her forcefully, removing her from the car and slamming her onto the ground,” the report states. She said Sheridan then dragged her into the house and pinned her to the couch as she attempted to leave.

A week ago, U.S. District Court Judge Benita Y. Pearson postponed ruling on whether the new charges are a probation violation for Sheridan’s federal convictions so that further proceedings can be conducted on the new charges.

KIDNAPPING, AGGRAVATED ROBBERY

Also indicted Tuesday was James Blackwell, 25, of Youngstown, on charges of aggravated robbery with a firearm specification, two counts of kidnapping, one count of strangulation, two misdemeanor counts of aggravated menacing and single counts of theft and criminal damaging or endangering.

The charges stem from a 4:47 p.m. Nov. 3 incident in which a woman told police that she was driving a car in the area of South and Pasadena avenues when she saw Blackwell heading toward her on South Avenue in a car. He started yelling “Where is my money?” the report states. She drove away, but Blackman followed her to Rush Boulevard and Avondale Avenue, where she told him to leave her alone, she said.

Blackwell approached her car and told her he had a gun and was going to kill her if she did not give him the money. Blackwell also threatened to kill someone in her car, the report states. Blackwell then dragged the woman out of the car and started choking her until she temporarily passed out. Blackwell then flattened two tires with a knife. Then Blackwell made her and a person from her car get into Blackwell’s car, she said.

While driving her to a house, she and the other person jumped out and called 911 from another house. She showed officers a video Blackwell posted on Facebook of things Blackwell was doing, the report states.

Officers spotted Blackwell’s car with Blackwell in it and also found a knife in the car, the report states. Blackwell was taken to the Mahoning County jail.