The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Cuyahoga men plead guilty to murder
The last two defendants accused admitted their guilt in the murder-for-hire plot in Elyria.
The last two defendants accused in the shooting death of a Lakewood man have admitted their guilt Dec. 10 in the murder-forhire plot in Elyria.
Bruce Arnoff, 57, of Solon, and John P. Sullivan, 30, of East Cleveland, both pleaded guilty in Lorain County Common Pleas Court for the July 6 shooting death of the 47-year-old Willie M. Fisher, a handyman, behind a convenience store in the 1300 block of East Avenue.
Arnoff pleaded guilty to three counts of complicity to aggravated murder, six counts of complicity to murder, six counts of complicity to felonious assault and two counts of tampering with evidence.
He was sentenced to 33 years to life in prison for the crimes.
Sullivan, the triggerman in the shooting, pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault and single counts of tampering with evidence.
Sullivan was sentenced to 39 years to life in prison.
Another defendant in the case, 19-year-old Patrick Gall, of East Cleveland, was sentenced to 28 years to life Nov. 19 after a Lorain County jury found him guilty of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault and a single count of tampering with evidence. Investigators said Fisher was an employee of Arnoff who’d been contracted to clean up the area around the convenience store where Fisher’s body was found.
Prosecutors said Arnoff paid Sullivan and Gall $500 to kill Fisher, whom Arnoff was unhappy with due to drug issues.
While Sullivan hid in the woods behind the store, Gall lured Fisher to the area where Sullivan ultimately shot and killed Fisher.