Staff file photo / Ed Runyan Will A. Jones, 60, left, was sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison last week in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court after pleading guilty to 14 counts of aggravated arson for the 14 people who were home at the time he set three residential fires last Nov. 22 and 23 in Youngstown.

YOUNGSTOWN — Will A. Jones, 60, pleaded guilty recently in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to 14 counts of aggravated arson and was sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison.

Jones set fires to three homes containing 14 people Nov. 22 and 23 not far from each other on the city’s South Side. Charges related to car fires Jones was also accused of setting were dismissed as part of Jones’ plea, which took place just before Jones’ sentencing hearing.

No local media appear to have covered the May 27 hearing, apparently because it was listed in court documents as a “hearing on status,” which in most cases in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court only involves a meeting among the parties but not a plea or sentencing.

The case has been widely covered since the revelation that Jones, who was living in a Willis Avenue halfway house on the South Side at the time, set the fires after having been released from prison several months earlier for a serious fire he set in Cleveland in 2016.

Jones was ultimately indicted in Mahoning County on 18 counts — the 14 counts of aggravated arson for each victim in the three homes and four other charges related to four vehicle fires. One of the vehicle fires destroyed the SUV of George Case, owner of Geo’s Music on Boardman Street downtown. Case found the burned vehicle behind the store. Other vehicle fires were on either side of Market Street just south of downtown.

One of the three residential fires involved a family living in a single family home on Oak Hill Avenue just south of the Oakhill county building in which four of the five members of the family were home. Like all of the fires, it took place in the middle of the night.

A 7-year-old in the Oak Hill home noticed the fire first, alerting her father about 4 a.m. Nov. 23 to the smoke, allowing the family time to escape. If not for her, the family may have perished, the father told The Vindicator. The home was destroyed and has since been razed.

Jones also set fire to the halfway house where he was living about 4 a.m. Nov. 22. Eight of Jones’ house mates were in the home at the time, but all escaped, one with a minor injury.

Jones also set fire to a home 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.

Victims of two of the house fires were notified of the hearing and spoke during the sentencing, according to the sentencing entry in the case. The sentence was jointly recommended to Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, and the judge approved the recommendation, giving Jones credit for the 182 days Jones spent in the Mahoning County jail awaiting trial.

Jones also was notified that because of being convicted of an arson-related offense, he is required to register his address with the sheriff where he lives within 10 days of coming into that county when he leaves prison.