2 guilty of setting home on fire while family slept

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CLEVELAND (WJW) — Two men have pleaded guilty to torching an Edgewater home while a couple and a 7-month-old baby were asleep inside, starting a fire that caused more than $750,000 in damage.

Tyric Green, 21, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to 10 counts of aggravated arson, among other charges, according to a Tuesday news release from Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley. Co-defendant D’Andre Morris, 22, pleaded guilty last week to counts of aggravated arson and attempted aggravated arson, among others.

Green owed three months of rent payments for the apartment he shared with his grandmother, according to prosecutors. He also faces two counts of forgery for allegedly sending the landlord a fake letter from PNC Bank regarding a deposit.

Then, on April 19, Green and Morris went to his landlord’s home near the intersection of West 106th Street and Clifton Boulevard. They attempted to start a fire with ignitable liquid, but were unsuccessful. They returned the following night, April 20, at about 2 a.m. and the fire took.

Inside were a 29-year-old man, a 26-year-old woman, a 7-month-old baby and a dog and cat. The three victims and their cat leaped to safety from a second-floor window, authorities said. The dog perished.

“It is by the grace of God this family escaped this horrific fire,” O’Malley is quoted in a Tuesday news release. “Unfortunately, their family dog Salami did not survive. This plea is the first step in holding these two idiots accountable.”

Green and Morris are due for sentencing on Sept. 24.

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