UPDATE | Man accused of harassing firefighters pleads guilty

YOUNGSTOWN — A city firefighter testified today a man charged with disrupting efforts to put out a December blaze at a vacant home said a baby was inside the house.

Lt. Justin Quarles said in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court that the defendant, Cameron Dyer, 30, made the statement to him twice that a baby was inside the home he owns, before walking away.

Later, Quarles said, he saw a vehicle behind the 2020 Elm St. home destroyed by the fire. The

vehicle drove over fire hoses and between several firetrucks.

Shortly after that fire was put out and firefighters were leaving, a city firefighter was shot in the leg and another was grazed by a bullet.

Dyer, who faced a single fourth-degree felony count of disrupting public service for hampering efforts by firefighters to fight the Dec. 5 blaze, pleaded guilty shortly after Quarles testified, and he was sentenced to a year in prison by Judge Lou D’Apolito to run consecutive to a 21⁄2-year sentence he is serving in another case on a drug charges.

Dyer is not charged with that shooting but he was a suspect.

For the complete story, read Tuesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com