I-Team: 2 indicted in Ohio City street takeover

CLEVELAND (WJW) — The FOX 8 I-Team has found two men have been indicted for their roles in a street takeover last month in the Ohio City section of Cleveland.

A 17-year-old from Norton is also facing charges in Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court.

Cuyahoga County prosecutors have filed a series of charges in adult court against 18-year-old Gauge Franklin, of Akron, and 20-year-old John Dietrich of Barberton.

They’ve been indicted for aggravated rioting, disrupting public service, inducing panic, arson and criminal damaging.

The case goes back to a street takeover in mid-September. Investigators said the incident even delayed an ambulance.

Prosecutors allege Franklin, Dietrich and the 17-year-old boy illegally shut down the intersection of West 25th Street and Lorain Avenue at about 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 15.

About 20 vehicles, including electric scooters and bikes, blocked the road, did doughnuts in the intersection and slowed down an ambulance that was on its way to the hospital, according to the release.

Prosecutors said Franklin drove to the spot in his SUV with Dietrich and the teen. The teen took accelerant out of the SUV and poured it in a circle in the intersection, then Dietrich ignited it, according to the release. Several unidentified people then jumped inside the ring.

When police arrived, the trio fled in Franklin’s SUV.

Investigators used social media evidence and surveillance footage to link the trio to the crime.

The case is not related to a series of takeovers on the last weekend of September in Cleveland which went on for hours all over the city.

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The two men just indicted were recently arrested on warrants. An arrest warrant is still out for the juvenile suspect, who is from Norton.

“These street takeovers are ruining the quality of life for our citizens,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley said. “My office will continue to aggressively prosecute any street takeover cases referred to us.”

They will soon appear in Cuyahoga County court to enter pleas and be assigned a judge.

Cleveland police have a task force investigating the series of takeovers that tied up streets and the Innerbelt Bridge, outraging people unable to get where they were going even in the middle of the night.

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