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Girard man sentenced to prison for second arson in two years
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Dennis R. Mohn, 21, of Abbey Street, Girard, has been sentenced to five years in prison for his second arson in two years and a planned bank robbery, all in Girard.
Mohn pleaded guilty Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court before Judge Peter Kontos to a July 28, 2013, aggravated arson and a robbery he was planning for Aug. 1, 2013.
The arson took place at the home where he was living with his grandparents on Abbey Street, investigators said.
He admitted using gasoline to ignite a bench in the attached garage, causing a 2:55 a.m. explosion and fire that also spread to his grandparents’ house. His grandparents were home at the time and spotted the fire, investigators said.
Mohn was placed on five years’ probation in May 2012 after being convicted of attempted aggravated arson for incidents Dec. 9, 2011, in which he and another man set trash cans on fire at residences on Jones Court, South Market and East Liberty streets.
The East Liberty Street fire was near the Girard Fire Department and caught a garage on fire, officials said. He was caught a short time after it started.
Girard police charged Mohn with the robbery July 31, 2013 — three days after the Abbey Street fire. A friend of Mohn’s told police Mohn asked him on the private-messaging function on the social-networking site Facebook to help him rob the Chase Bank on West Liberty Street in Girard.
Mohn told the friend he’d pay him $2,000 to serve as the driver during the robbery. The friend later agreed with Girard police to wear a device to record a conversation he had with Mohn on July 31 about the robbery.
Police arrested Mohn before he had the chance to carry out the robbery Aug. 1.
In a separate case, John T. Bentz, 44, of Fairway Drive Northeast pleaded guilty Monday before Judge Kontos to two counts of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles and will be sentenced later. He could get up to 24 months in prison.
Bentz, who runs a political fundraising business called Bentz Associates Inc. on Washington Street Northeast, was charged after investigators found evidence of child pornography on computers with a connection to Bentz.
Gabe Wildman, an assistant county prosecutor, said these types of prosecutions generally begin with information from one of several investigative agencies — including the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, FBI and Internet Crimes Against Children agency in Cuyahoga County — that troll the Internet looking for individuals sharing child pornography.