Cleveland man to be sentenced

Allen A. Crawford pleaded to stabbing, setting women on fire in Willoughby Hills

A Cleveland man will be sentenced May 22 for kidnapping and attempting to murder the mother of his children and her sister in a Willoughby Hills apartment last July.

Allen A. Crawford, 28, recently pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree felony attempted murder, two counts of first-degree felony kidnapping, one count of first-degree felony aggravated arson and one count of first degree felony ag- gravated burglary.

Each of those charges carries a three-year firearm specification.

He also pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of child endangerment.

The charges stem from a July 21 incident at Willoughby Hills Towers. City police stated that Crawford entered an apartment and attacked the 22-year-old female resident and her 24-year-old sister from Euclid. Crawford is the father of the Euclid woman’s children who were there at the time 2, 3 and 4 years old children, according to police.

Police stated that Crawford entered the apartment with a handgun, bound each woman’s hands with duct tape, stabbed them both multiple times, doused them with lighter fluid and set them on fire. He then took the children and fled.

The 22-year-old woman was able to escape and call 911. She was taken by ambulance to Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights. Her sister was flown by medical helicopter from University Hospitals Richmond Medical Center in Richmond Heights to MetroHealth in Cleveland.

Crawford called Lake County Central Dispatch about an hour after leaving

the 27400 Chardon Road apartment and told them he had dropped the children off at his parent’s house on Muskoka Avenue in Cleveland.

He also said that he was sitting on a bench at Euclid Beach in Cleveland but police from Cleveland and Willoughby Hills were unable to find him when they checked the location.

Crawford turned himself

in at Cleveland police station at about 9 p.m. that night. During the search for Crawford, police found the three children safe at their grandparents’ house.

Crawford will be sentenced by Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge John P. O’Donnell.

He has been held in the Lake County Jail since his arrest in lieu of a $2 million bond.

Crawford