ASHLAND – A breakup with an ex-girlfriend has been listed as the motive for an Ashland teen who has been charged with aggravated arson, a first-degree felony.
Zachary Osborn, 19, is accused of setting fire to a house at 146 Lee Avenue, first on Aug. 2 and again on Aug. 8. During the first early morning fire, residents Loretta and Jeffrey Martin were home.
Osborn appeared before Ashland County Common Pleas Court Magistrate Paul Lange Monday via Skype from the Ashland County Jail. Osborn responded to questions from the magistrate tentatively and with some apparent confusion, first saying he did not understand the charge against him and later saying he did not know the name of his bank.
County prosecutor Chris Tunnell told the magistrate “The court should be aware that this young man has had a rather difficult time dealing with some sort of unresolved anger lately.”
Tunnell said Osborn, who lives on Sherman Avenue, is an ex-boyfriend of a former resident of the Lee Avenue house. The pair broke up in July.
“That break-up apparaently angered him to the point where he went back to the residence on Lee and slashed tires at the residence,” Tunnell said.
Osborn’s ex-girlfriend moved out of the residence before the first of the two fires destroyed the home, Tunnell said, but it is unclear whether Osborn knew the ex-girlfriend had moved.
Tunnell said Osborn admitted he was motivated by anger when he entered the residence and set fire to the occupied house.
“He has told law enforcement that he remains angry in the same regards that motivated these offenses, so we do feel that he is dangerous at this time,” Tunnell said.
The prosecutor said his office is considering additional felony level charges. He also noted Osborn also has misdemeanor cases pending in Ashland Municipal Court for allegedly breaking things in his home on July 19 and Aug. 18.
Tunnell asked the magistrate to set bond at $500,000, but Lange set bond at $250,000.
Lange appointed attorney James Mayer III to represent Osborn and set the defendant’s next court appearance for 9 a.m. Wednesday.
