Two men arraigned on three arson counts

Bond was set Friday at $150,000 for each suspect.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Two men accused of setting three fires on Williamson Avenue may be responsible for other South Side blazes, an arson investigator says.
"They'd light the fires and then stay around to watch them burn," Lt. Kevin Johnson said Friday. "We got tips about these two from Blue Ribbon reward signs."
The Ohio Blue Ribbon Arson program offers rewards of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of suspected arsonists. Signs offering the rewards are posted on structures that were intentionally set on fire.
Who they are
Johnson said the men -- Neil R. Patterson and Robert R. Bennett Jr. -- didn't venture far from home and likely had nothing to do with the rash of arsons on the North Side.
The arson investigator said the two men are suspects in other South Side arsons, however.
Patterson, 22, of Franklin Avenue, and Bennett, 19, of East Myrtle Avenue, were arraigned Friday in municipal court, each on three counts of arson.
Judge Robert A. Douglas set each man's bond at $150,000 and a preliminary hearing for Aug. 7.
Johnson said Patterson and Bennett first torched 206 Williamson Ave. on July 13, and the fire resulted in a firefighter's being injured.
They came back on July 22 to the same property and set a shed on fire, he said.
The third fire was July 23 at 210 Williamson, where the kitchen was ignited, Johnson said.
The structures were all vacant.
Patterson and Bennett were both arrested Thursday at their homes on warrants.