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Man accused of harassing firefighters pleads guilty
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A city firefighter testified Monday 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. Police Lt. Doug Bobovnyik said shell casings found at the scene where the firefighter was shot were tested by the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation but they cannot be matched to any weapon. The case is still under investigation, Bobovnyik said.
Dyer is, however, accused of harassing firefighters and driving over their hoses during the fire because he was upset they were not working hard enough to put out the blaze. Police said Dyer admitted on videotape that he is a drug dealer and he was upset because he had $10,000 cash in the home when it was set afire. The house was destroyed, and the blaze was ruled an arson.
Assistant Prosecutor Mike Yacovone said in exchange for Dyer’s plea, he would not argue for the maximum 18-month sentence. Dyer’s attorney, Walter Ritchie, argued for a sentence that would not be consecutive to the one he is serving now, saying that Dyer admitted responsibility, did not hurt anyone and that he has never been convicted of a violent crime.
Dyer declined to speak before the sentence was imposed.
Fire Chief John O’Neill, who was present with several other city firefighters, told the judge he has seen other firefighters hit by cars, and trucks hit by cars, but those were all the results of carelessness. He said Dyer’s actions were the opposite of that.
“This was no accident,” O’Neill said.
Judge D’Apolito said Dyer was lucky no one got hurt and that he did not damage any equipment.
“The whole idea of it is a terrible thing, and I think your conduct was horrible,” Judge D’Apolito said.
Firefighters were able to give police a license plate number of the Mercedes SUV that ran over the hoses and traced it to Dyer’s girlfriend. When they got a warrant to search it, they found Dyer’s ID in the backseat and learned he is listed as the owner of the Elm Street home that caught fire.