Akron police, fire: Co-owner left Pavona's 6 minutes before smoke is seen, video shows

Mark Mickey, co-owner of Pavona's Pizza Joint and Mickey's Irish Pub, which was destroyed by fire in October, was seen on video leaving the business six minutes before smoke started coming from the building, according to Akron police and fire investigators.

Mickey, 56, of Peninsula entered a not guilty plea during an arraignment Tuesday on a fourth-degree felony arson charge at the Akron Municipal Court. His attorney, Peter Cahoon, declined to comment to the Beacon Journal.

No injuries were reported in the Oct. 7 fire, but it temporarily closed a part of West Market Street and affected nearby businesses, with some sustaining damage, and electricity and gas cut to some nearby buildings. Firefighters from Akron and Fairlawn responded to the scene.

The Pavona's building has since been demolished, but there's still a lot of debris at the site, which is closed off by a fence.

Pavona's co-owner court date:Pavona's Pizza, Mickey's Irish Pub co-owner to be arraigned Tuesday on arson charge

Pavona's fire was set 'by human hand'

According to a field case report from the Akron Police Department, Akron fire investigators and private fire insurance investigators determined the fire was incendiary, meaning it was deliberately set.

According to the report, the fire started under the staircase on the kitchen side of the restaurant. The electrical panels are in the same room, but the three electrical panels were disassembled, inspected and evaluated by certified electrical engineers who determined the panels were not the cause of the fire and not a contributing factor, the report states.

Investigators also determined it wasn't an electrical fire because of the fire patterns, including movement and intensity; damage to the panel boxes and wiring; and rapid fire growth.

"There is no other competent ignition source, and no explainable plausible way for the fire to have occurred in that location under the stairs other than by human hand," the report states.

Investigators couldn't get a sample from the fire's area of origin the day of the fire because of structural compromise, "extreme structural instability" and flooding in the basement.

The delay meant that the the building was left exposed to the natural elements, with an exposed open section of the roof above the area of origin.

Pavona's co-owner charged with arson:Co-owner of Mickey's Irish Pub, Pavona's Pizza charged with arson in October fire

Fire debris was eventually collected from the area of origin; it didn't test positive for accelerants, but investigators said that "given the circumstances of the fire this was anticipated."

There was significant fire damage throughout the entire structure, resulting in complete mass loss in some areas, according to the report. The report states it took more than 2.5 million gallons of water to put the fire out.

Mark Mickey seen on video just before Pavona's fire starts

According to the report, Mickey "place[d] himself in the exact area of origin." He's also on camera leaving about six minutes before smoke is seen from the Sand Run Pharmacy security camera system.

The report states that no other people came to or left the building after Mickey.

Police said that when he was interviewed, Mickey denied having an alarm system, but there were actually seven motion sensors, including sensors on windows and doors. Police said he also lied and said he had a monitored smoke detection system.

Police also said that a video surveillance system that was paid for on a monthly subscription cloud service was still recording, unknown to Mickey, who had stopped paying for the service.

The report states the video records in multiple areas throughout the building. The area of origin wasn't recorded, but the video doesn't show Mickey in any other part of the building that was recorded.

Pavona's fire:Pavona's Pizza Joint destroyed as major fire shuts down Sand Run Road, West Market

Mickey also told police he always arrives early in the morning to check his coolers, but the owner of Sand Run Pharmacy said he hadn't seen Mickey there early for more than a month, except for the morning of the fire.

Sand Run Pharmacy had water in its basement and lost refrigerated vaccines and medications when the electricity was turned off. Firefighters fought the fire from the rooftop of the pharmacy, which reopened the next day.

Tom Lamb, the pharmacy’s owner and pharmacist, has declined to comment.

Mark Mickey's text messages

According to the report, Mickey texted a friend at 8:10 the morning of the fire asking about how much the friend would charge to rent him a bedroom. The friend told police that Mickey and his wife were divorcing, and Mickey needed a place to stay.

The report also states that Mickey received a text message the day of the fire that said, "I see you got your wish your pizza place burned down that's what you wanted right where I started by the furnace too."

The business, at 32 Sand Run Road just off West Market Street in Northwest Akron, opened in 2016 in a building owned by the Vaccaro family, which ran Vaccaro's Pizza carryout there over the years. Raphael Vaccaro declined to comment.

A GoFundMe page was set up to help the 17 Pavona's employees and their families and had raised $8,730 as of Monday. The page’s organizer has disabled new donations.

As of Monday, the Instagram page for Pavona’s Pizza had been deleted. The name of the Facebook page for Pavona’s was changed to Mickey’s Irish Pub on Sunday.

Mickey previously told the Beacon Journal that he was opening a new business, Mickey's Irish Pub and Pavona's Pizza Joint, at 1846 Front St., the former Craft Social space, in Cuyahoga Falls. A grand opening was scheduled for St. Patrick's Day, but it's unclear if that's still moving forward. The overall status of the new business is also unclear.

Beacon Journal reporter April Helms contributed to this report. Contact Beacon Journal reporter Emily Mills at emills@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter @EmilyMills818.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Video shows Mark Mickey leave Pavona's 6 minutes before smoke is seen