Woman enters insanity plea in Ravenna apartment arson
A Ravenna woman has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity to two dozen felony charges stemming from a March fire police say she set in the Hazen Avenue apartment building where she was living.
A Portage County grand jury indicted the 64-year-old woman on 23 counts of aggravated arson and a single count of fifth-degree felony cruelty to a companion animal.
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The Record-Courier is not identifying the woman because police and fire officials have cited a mental health crisis.
Eleven of the arson counts are first-degree felonies, stipulating that the woman "by means of fire or explosion, knowingly (created) a substantial risk of serious physical harm to any person other than the offender."
The remaining 12 arson counts are second-degree felonies concerning "physical harm to any occupied structure."
The woman was arraigned April 16 on the charges in Portage County Common Pleas Court. Judge Laurie J. Pittman has ordered the woman to undergo a competency evaluation and that she be held without bond in Portage County Jail.
A competency hearing is scheduled for June 10, with a jury trial currently scheduled for June 18.
Firefighters and Ravenna police responded to the three-story building at 629 Hazen in the early evening of March 17. About a dozen residents in a dozen units were evacuated. No serious injuries were reported. At least one resident had a dog that also was evacuated safely.
Police said that when they saw the woman while evacuating the building, they noted burns and cuts on her arms. The woman then made statements about “Trump and Biden sending people to kill her," said police.
The woman allegedly admitted starting a fire in the middle of her second-floor apartment's living room, opening a sliding glass door and watching the fire spread throughout the building.
EMS treated the woman at the scene, then took her to University Hospitals Portage Medical Center.
Two days later, firefighters returned to the building during the late evening after fire erupted on the third floor, destroying what was left of the roof. The cause of the second fire is undetermined due to extensive damage caused by the first fire.
Firefighters then responded for the last time the next morning, this time finding smoke, but no flames. The building then was condemned, and was demolished March 21.
Reporter Jeff Saunders can be reached at jsaunders@recordpub.com.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Woman enters insanity plea in Ravenna apartment arson
