COLUMBIANA COUNTY Salem man pleads guilty to covered-bridge arson

By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- A 19-year-old Salem man will be sentenced in December after pleading guilty to setting fire to a historical covered bridge earlier this year.
David Pingley Jr. of McCracken Road pleaded guilty to the fourth-degree arson charge Thursday before Judge David Tobin of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court.
Judge Tobin set an 11:30 a.m. Dec. 11 sentencing date. Pingley is free on bond.
The charge bears a maximum penalty of 18 months in jail.
But as part of a plea agreement, the county prosecutor's office is recommending a one-year prison term, 250 hours of community service and a $2,175 payment by Pingley for repairing the bridge.
Judge Tobin is not bound to accept the terms of the plea agreement.
Pingley pleaded guilty to the Feb. 23 arson of the Teegarden Centennial Covered Bridge, which crosses Little Beaver Creek along Eagleton Road in Salem Township.
At the time of his arrest in April, authorities said Pingley confessed torching the 19th-century structure "on a whim."
About the fire
The fire occurred just weeks after the January completion of a $295,000 project to renovate the span, built in 1875.
A passing motorist saw the fire and put it out. Had he failed to act, the fire could have significantly damaged or destroyed the bridge, county officials have said.
Damage was limited to some vertical planking on the bridge's side and to a structural member.
A break in the case came when a 15-year-old boy who was with Pingley but didn't participate in setting the fire told authorities that Pingley had committed the arson.
Since 1998, three covered bridges in the county have been destroyed by arson. The county now has five of the historical spans.