YOUNGSTOWN — Will A. Jones, 59, who is accused of starting fires at three occupied homes in the city containing a combined 14 people on Nov. 22 and 23, was arraigned Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Jones also is accused of starting four vehicle fires around the same time. Jones was 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 entered a not guilty plea to the charges Tuesday, and Mahoning County Magistrate Tim Welsh also ordered that his $450,000 bond remain the same.

RYAN SHERIDAN

Former Braking Point owner Ryan P. Sheridan, 45, also was arraigned Tuesday on charges of felony abduction and misdemeanor domestic violence in an Oct. 23 incident at a home in Austintown.

He pleaded not guilty, and Welsh kept Sheridan’s $25,000 bond the same. 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.

JACOB JACKSON

And Jacob A. Jackson, 22, of Spring Street in Struthers, was arraigned Tuesday on charges of involuntary manslaughter and felony child endangering in the Aug. 15 shooting death of his 3-year-old son, Gionni A. Jackson.

The involuntary manslaughter is a first-degree felony, punishable by up to about 11 years in prison if convicted. The child endangering could add more prison time if convicted.

The Mahoning County Coroner’s Office ruled the boy’s death an accident. A narrative with the death certificate states Gionni died after shooting himself with his father’s gun in the family’s Spring Street home.

The Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office carried out the investigation of the boy’s death at the request of the Struthers Police Department because a Struthers officer is Gionni’s grandfather.

A coroner’s office investigator spoke with Jacob Jackson, who said he was getting ready to go to his mother’s house to retrieve his gun holster. About noon, he set his handgun on the dresser so he could use the bathroom. The dresser was about waist-high. Jackson reported that Gionni’s mother was doing her hair in the bedroom and Gionni was behind her.

Jackson said he was using the bathroom with the door open when he heard a pop and saw Gionni fall to the floor. The boy was pronounced dead later that day at the hospital.

Jackson pleaded not guilty, and Welsh set bond at $50,000.