Staff photo / Ed Runyan Will A. Jones, left, watches as his attorney, Lou DeFabio, discusses Jones’ aggravated arson case Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. The hearing was to discuss suppression of remarks Jones made to police, but plea discussions took place.

YOUNGSTOWN — After a hearing Tuesday, Mahoning County prosecutors worked on a plea agreement with the attorney representing Will A. Jones, 60, the man charged with setting three occupied-home fires containing 14 people Nov. 22 and 23 on the South Side.

The negotiations resulted in a possible plea agreement, but prosecutors will be talking to the victims before Jones’ next hearing in late May to discuss the plea negotiations with them.

In addition to the three occupied-home fires, there were other victims who owned motor vehicles Jones is accused of setting on fire about the same time. Adding in the owners of the vehicles, there are 20 victims, Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor John Juhasz said.

At the request of Jones’ then-attorney Gary VanBrocklin, Jones was evaluated to determine whether he was not guilty by reason of insanity. Krichbaum said Tuesday Jones was found to be sane at the time of the fires.

Tuesday’s hearing took place to hear evidence on a motion by Jones’ current attorney, Lou DeFabio, for Krichbaum to suppress evidence regarding statements Jones made to Youngstown fire investigator Charles Hodge and Youngstown police detective Jerry Fulmer on Nov. 26 at the Youngstown Police Department.

Hodge was the only witness, but Juhasz also played the part of the videotaped interview during which Hodge and Fulmer advised Jones of his right to remain silent and to have an attorney present during the interrogation.

After the hearing was over, Krichbaum said he would hold off on ruling on the motion to suppress to give the defense and prosecution a chance to discuss whether a plea agreement can be reached in the case. After a while, the parties reconvened and agreed that they had fruitful discussions on a plea agreement.

A hearing will be scheduled in late May on a possible plea after talking to the victims, the parties and the court agreed.

HOME FIRES

The three occupied home fires were on Oak Hill, Woodland and Willis avenues. Jones was living in the Willis Avenue group home at the time. Eight people were there when that fire was set. All made it out safely, though two suffered minor injuries.

At the home on Oak Hill Avenue, four members of a family escaped the 4:17 a.m. fire because one of the two children was in the living room and woke up her father.

Two women were home at the home on Woodland Avenue, and both made it out. The Oak Hill and Woodland fires were Nov. 23. The Willis fire was Nov. 22. Jones is in the Mahoning County jail in lieu of a $450,000 bond.

Hodge told the Vindicator Jones had no apparent connection to Youngstown other than being sent to a halfway house on Willis Avenue from prison in July.

Jones’ Youngstown crimes were not the first time he was 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.