Canton man breaks therapy worker’s nose over healthful snack

CANTON — A man on parole and with a history of mental illness was jailed after he was accused of punching a therapeutic program worker who told him he could have an apple instead of a bag of chips.

Mylon S. Mayle, 35, was arrested at 10 a.m. Monday in the 3000 block of Erie Street South on a misdemeanor assault charge and a parole violation, Stark County Jail records show.

The night before, he was at Heartland Behavioral Healthcare when, at snack time, he finished his snack and approached the worker, asking her if he could have more chips. When she told him he could have an apple instead, he punched her in the face so hard he broke her nose and caused a concussion, according to the jail records.

Family members said Mayle has suffered from a severe mental illness for many years.

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction records show he was released from prison April 13 after serving time for aggravated arson.

Mayle went to prison in 2012 for aggravated arson for purposely setting his own couch on fire inside his Park Avenue SW apartment, according to a Canton Repository article dated May 12, 2012.

Court records show he went back to prison in December 2015 for aggravated arson after he was accused of setting fire to a group home where he was living.

Before his conviction, he was committed in June 2015 to Twin Valley Healthcare, but found competent by December 2015 at which time he convicted of aggravated arson and assault and sent to prison, the court records show.

Mayle was still on parole on Monday when the incident happened at Heartland, Department of Correction records show. Details of how he came to be at Heartland at the time were not listed in the court records on Tuesday morning.

He remained behind bars Tuesday, held without bond.