Saturday, October 17, 2015
YOUNGSTOWN
The owner of the Spice of India, a Market Street restaurant in Boardman that was destroyed by arson, may get out of prison early.
A 9:15 a.m. Oct. 26 judicial release hearing has been set for Rajendra Ingle, 42, of Streetsboro, before visiting Judge Thomas Pokorny of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
The hearing date was set in a Friday status conference concerning the case, in which Ingle’s lawyer, Thomas Zena, and Nicholas Brevetta, an assistant county prosecutor, met with the judge in chambers.
After Ingle pleaded no contest to arson and insurance fraud in the Oct. 8, 2013, fire, Judge Pokorny found him guilty and sentenced him in July to a year in prison.
In a written motion, Zena said Ingle should be released now from the Lorain Correctional Institution because his being there “presents great danger to his physical health.”
Ingle has a history of diabetes and high blood pressure, and those conditions have intensified since his imprisonment, with his medication dosages having been increased as documented in prison records, Zena wrote.
Ingle “has strong family support, a residence and competent medical care available,” Zena argued.
In the plea agreement, the prosecution agreed to stand silent on judicial release, but Brevetta said the owner of the destroyed restaurant building, Nicholas Tsarnas, will voice his opposition to Ingle’s early release at the hearing.
Three other defendants, Jessie Winphrie, 23; Christopher Reynolds, 21; and Sonia Bhatia, 24; were each sentenced to 20 days in the county jail, five years’ probation and 160 hours of community service.
Prosecutors said Ingle paid Winphrie and Reynolds $500 each to set the fire; and Bhatia, a restaurant employee, admitted them to the building.
Ingle filed an insurance claim that was denied because the fire was ruled an arson.
The four defendants owe Tsarnas $190,000 in restitution for his losses.