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Sentencing set in case of fires in trash bins
YOUNGSTOWN
A woman charged with setting fire to large trash receptacles in the Boardman apartment complex where she once lived has pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count and one felony count of arson.
Sandra Williamson, 57, now of Lowellville, appeared Friday before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for pre-trial. She had been scheduled for a jury trial Monday.
Williamson, under the direction of her attorney, Michael Gollings, decided to enter into an agreement with prosecutors wherein she would plead guilty to the arson charges. Judge Krichbaum will sentence her May 10.
Williamson could be sentenced to as many as 18 months in prison and fined as much as $6,000.
J. Michael Thompson, an assistant county prosecutor, said the state is recommending Williamson receive five years’ probation and an order to stay away from the victims and property in question.
“The primary concern is no more contact and no more of this nonsense,” he said.
Williamson remains free on a $4,000 bond and has been ordered to stay away from the property and its owner, Angelina Tiberio. Williamson also is confined to electronically monitored house arrest.
Williamson was charged Nov. 18 with two counts of arson after she was seen on a surveillance camera setting fire to two trash bins at 2020 Wolosyn Circle in Boardman. Tiberio installed cameras after more than a half-dozen fires were set on the property.
Williamson lived at Tiberio’s other property, 1996 Wolosyn. Tiberio said Williamson was forced to officially leave the property by court order in late January.
Tiberio said the cost of the cameras to prevent the arsons was about $2,300. She said she also has been forced to pay the costs of cleanup and damages associated with the fires.
Tiberio said she is happy with the plea agreement as long as it keeps Williamson away from her property. She said the main objective is to keep her tenants safe from fires started by Williamson.