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Man accused of setting self, house on fire
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
The man accused of trying to set his ex-girlfriend and his home on fire the day before Thanksgiving was arraigned Thursday in municipal court.
Magistrate Anthony Sertick set bond at 10 percent of $50,000 for Ronald Magby, 57, who is charged with kidnapping and aggravated assault in the Nov. 24 attack at a home on Megan Circle.
Magby was being treated for burns in the burn unit at Akron Children’s Hospital because police said he also set himself on fire during the attack. He was taken into custody Wednesday after he was released from the burn unit and booked into the Mahoning County jail.
Assistant City Prosecutor Jeffrey Moliterno asked for a bond of $50,000 on each charge. Moliterno said that Magby bound his ex-girlfriend with plastic ties and duct tape, poured lighter fluid on her and tried to set her on fire.
Magby also set himself on fire, then got into an SUV in the driveway and told police who arrived they would have to shoot him, Moliterno said. Moliterno said Magby tried to run the officers down before they managed to shoot him with an electronic stun weapon.
David Betras, representing Magby, disputed Moliterno’s version of events and asked for a low bond or to allow Magby to be free on his own recognizance. Betras said his client already has undergone five surgeries to be treated for his burns and has to undergo five more.
Magby also has an appointment Wednesday with a burn specialist, Betras said, and he is housed in the jail’s medical unit.
Betras said all of Magby’s family is in the area, he has held the same job for years and has almost no criminal record.
“He is no risk of flight at all,” Betras said of Magby.
Moliterno answered that police found duct tape and plastic ties in the house and that Magby also disconnected the gas pipe to the stove and tried to set his house on fire.
Sertick then said he would set bond at 10 percent of $25,000 on each charge.
Moliterno said the woman was able to free herself during the incident and set off a panic alarm, which notified a security company, which in turn, contacted police, who then responded to the home.