Following a preliminary hearing Friday in Middletown Municipal Court, Judge James Sherron found sufficient evident to bind the case over to a grand jury. Johnson remains incarcerated in lieu of a $100,000 bond on the second-degree felony charge.
The trailer was engulfed in flames when deputies arrived about 8:06 p.m. The deputies attempted to get inside to bedroom of a man trapped, but were unable to do because of the intensity of the fire, according to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.
Steven C. Strain, 59, was found dead in the mobile home. At the scene, Johnson told deputies he was smoking a cigar and laid it down on a roll of toilet paper, causing a fire.
Johnson made a statement that he would burn down the trailer if he was forced to move out, according to Detective Mike Steele.
The Butler County Coroner’s Office listed Strain’s cause of death as smoke inhalation and the manner of death as an accident.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said additional charges connected to Strain’s death could be considered at grand jury.
“When we get to the grand jury, I have evidence of an additional crime, that will be presented to the grand jury,” Gmoser said. “An accident to a coroner is something different than from a prosecutor with respect to criminality.”
Madison Twp. Fire Chief Kent Hall said firefighters had put out a blaze at the same trailer on Aug. 12. During that fire, three trailer park employees pulled Johnson from inside the rear door and remove him from the trailer. He is the original owner of the trailer, according to fire officials.
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