Man sentenced for role in standoff

YOUNGSTOWN — A man arrested after a three-hour police standoff at a South Side fire scene on June 27 has been sent to prison for one year.

Judge Timothy E. Franken of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court imposed the sentence this week on William C. Pietz, 30, of East Delason Avenue, who had pleaded guilty to disrupting public service, a fourth-degree felony. Pietz will get credit for 57 days he already had been jailed.

Pietz yelled at firefighters, who were allowing a vacant house on his street to burn down for safety reasons, that they should have extinguished the blaze.

James Young, 52, of Williamson Avenue, pointed an air gun that looked like an assault rifle at firefighters, causing them to take cover behind their trucks, police said.

Pietz and Young then entered Pietz’s house and refused to come out, police said. Pietz and Young surrendered after Pietz was hit in the buttocks with a 40 mm rubber bean-bag round and police threatened to use tear gas.

Judge Franken will sentence Young, who has pleaded guilty to the same charge, at 11 a.m. Nov. 28.

Police confiscated three air guns, two pistols and a rifle from Pietz’s residence after the standoff.