Gauge Franklin and John Dietrich received one-year prison terms and must pay $39,242 in restitution for a street takeover that disrupted the Ohio City neighborhood.
Gauge Franklin and John Dietrich received one-year prison terms and must pay $39,242 in restitution for a street takeover that disrupted the Ohio City neighborhood.during a street takeover last fall were sentenced to prison Thursday and ordered to pay the city nearly $40,000 in damages.
Gauge Franklin, 19, and John Dietrich, 20, pleaded guilty last month to felony aggravated riot and inducing panic and misdemeanor arson. In exchange for their pleas, the state dropped charges of disrupting public services and criminal damaging or endangering. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John Russo sentenced each to a year of incarceration at Lorain Correctional Institution. He also ordered them to pay $39,242 in restitution to the city. Inspired by street takeover videos on Instagram, Franklin drove Dietrich and a 17-year-old from Barberton to a four-way intersection at West 25th Street and Lorain Avenue in the Ohio City neighborhood on Sept. 15. At about 2:30 a.m., about 20 vehicles created a roadblock and performed donuts in the intersection, slowing down an ambulance enroute to the hospital. As the scene unfolded, the 17-year-old poured a ring of gasoline in the center of the intersection. Dietrich, of Barberton, then lit it and stood inside the flames with several other people, some who appeared to record the incident on their phones, according to a video recording played in court. “He got caught up in this excitement and this mob mentality,” Christopher Maher, Dietrich’s attorney, told Russo. Maher said a lot of people who are interested in cars follow “this stuff” on Instagram, and Dietrich went along with Franklin to witness the street takeover.A video of the Sept. 15 takeover showed the intersection blocked by traffic cones, scooters and parked cars facing oncoming traffic. A man wearing a black hoodie and holding a selfie stick stood in the center of the intersection as a Dodge Charger drove donuts around him. A person leaned out the passenger window of the Charger as it left tire marks and kicked up smoke. Over a dozen people watched the scene. Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Connor Davin said authorities have been unable to identify others in the video. Franklin’s vehicle, which did not “hoon,” was tracked from the scene using Flock cameras and license plate readers. “Certainly, this is behavior I would categorize as completely unnecessary,” Davin said. “It’s also attention-seeking, and it’s certainly got the attention of Cuyahoga County.” Prosecutors read several letters to Russo from residents who live near the intersection. One resident called the incident a “calculated, well-orchestrated, heinous act.” Another resident said the takeover gave the community a “black eye” and jeopardized the lives of residents and visitors. Davin asked Russo to impose a sentence of incarceration. Maher said Dietrich wasn’t an organizer or a driver and cooperated fully with police after a warrant went was issued for his arrest. He said Dietrich faces very serious consequences with restitution and a felony record and asked Russo to impose a “community-based sentence.” Russo pointed out that Dietrich tested positive for oxycodone and marijuana shortly after he was released on bond following his arrest in October. Sheila Downs, Franklin’s attorney, said she had no intention of minimizing the destruction and disturbance to the community from the street takeover. She said Franklin, of Akron, and Dietrich “kind of went up to watch the scene.” “I could not answer the question why he thought it would be a good idea to come to Cleveland on that day and participate in that, but I think that’s a decision he’s going to regret for the rest of his life,” she said. “This has been a really tough lesson for him.” Downs asked Russo to take Franklin’s age and lack of criminal history into account and sentence him to community control.“I definitely apologize to the community for what we did,” Dietrich said. “We were just with a bad group of kids around the wrong time just with the wrong group of people, I guess. Just doing dumb stuff.”“I apologize to the city for our little hassle in the middle of Cleveland,” he said. Russo said the street takeover happened at one of the intersection’s busiest times as people were enjoying community amenities. “It’s clearly an organized criminal activity that somehow you jumped into,” he said. “Your part in it causes — as you can hear from some of the statements from the community — not only heartache, but fear for the future, a fear that somebody could come and close down .” Gauge Franklin and John Dietrich are handcuffed as Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John Russo orders them to serve a year in Lorain Correctional Institution.Russo sentenced the men to one year in prison for aggravated riot, 10 months for inducing panic and six months for arson, to run concurrently. Deputies handcuffed the defendants as the sentence was read and, when Russo finished, escorted them from the courtroom. Afterward, Downs said she thinks Franklin is a “good kid” who made a bad decision. Despite a difficult upbringing, Franklin graduated high school and was gainfully employed, she said. “Despite the seriousness of the offense and the disturbance it caused the city … I think that something less than prison would have been sufficient to hold him accountable,” Downs said.If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our
@Gauge-Franklin @John-Dietrich @John-Russo @Ohio-City @Barberton @Christopher-Maher @Sheila-Downs @Connor-Davin @David-Gambino @Street-Takeover @Dodge-Charger @Prison-Sentence @Restitution
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