Akron landlord pleads guilty to setting tenants’ apartment on fire
An Akron landlord pleaded guilty last month to setting fire to two tenants’ apartment in an effort to force them to vacate.
Ronald Edgar Frisbie III, of the 300 block of South 9th Street, pleaded guilty before Judge Dennis Reinaker on July 29 to two counts of arson, one count of burglary and two counts of recklessly endangering another person. Judge Reinaker will sentence Frisbie at the conclusion of a pre-sentence investigation.
Frisbie, 29, illegally entered and set fire to the apartment in the 300 block of South 10th Street in Akron Borough during the early morning hours of March 23, 2024.
Two people were inside the apartment at the time, though neither was injured.
The victims told police Frisbie, their landlord, set fire to a box inside the apartment shortly before 3 a.m. to try to set the unit ablaze in order to get them to vacate.
Police arrived to find the apartment filled with smoke and a box with burn marks.
Assistant District Attorney Jessica Collo prosecuted the case.
Elizabethtown Borough Police Officer Alexander Reed filed the charges.
