(A) No person, by means of fire or explosion, shall knowingly do any of the following:
(1) Cause, or create a substantial risk of, physical harm to any property of another without the other person’s consent;
(2) Cause, or create a substantial risk of, physical harm to any property of the offender or another, with purpose to defraud;
(3) Cause, or create a substantial risk of, physical harm to the statehouse or a courthouse, school building or other building or structure that is owned or controlled by the state, any political subdivision or any department, agency or instrumentality of the state or a political subdivision, and that is used for public purposes;
(4) Cause, or create a substantial risk of, physical harm, through the offer or the acceptance of an agreement for hire or other consideration, to any property of another without the other person’s consent or to any property of the offender or another with purpose to defraud;
(5) Cause, or create a substantial risk of, physical harm to any park, preserve, wildlands, brush-covered land, cut-over land, forest, timberland, greenlands, woods or similar real property that is owned or controlled by another person, the state or a political subdivision without the consent of the other person, the state or the political subdivision; and
(6) With purpose to defraud, cause or create a substantial risk of, physical harm to any park, preserve, wildlands, brush-covered land, cut-over land, forest, timberland, greenlands, woods or similar real property that is owned or controlled by the offender, another person, the state or a political subdivision.
(B) No person, by means of fire or explosion, shall knowingly do any of the following:
(1) Cause, or create a substantial risk of, physical harm to any structure of another that is not an occupied structure;
(2) Cause, or create a substantial risk of, physical harm, through the offer or the acceptance of an agreement for hire or other consideration, to any structure of another that is not an occupied structure; and
(3) Cause, or create a substantial risk of, physical harm to any structure that is not an occupied structure and that is in or on any park, preserve, wildlands, brush-covered land, cut-over land, forest, timberland, greenlands, woods or similar real property that is owned or controlled by another person, the state or a political subdivision.
(C) (1) It is an affirmative defense to a charge under division (B)(1) or (B)(2) above that the defendant acted with the consent of the other person.
(2) It is an affirmative defense to a charge under division (B)(3) above that the defendant acted with the consent of the other person, the state or the political subdivision.
(D) (1) Whoever violates this section is guilty of arson. A violation of division (A)(1) or (B)(1) above is one of the following:
(a) Except as otherwise provided in division (D)(2)(b) below, a misdemeanor of the first degree; and
(b) If the value of the property or the amount of the physical harm involved is $1,000 or more, a felony to be prosecuted under appropriate state law.
(2) A violation of division (A)(2), (A)(3), (A)(4), (A)(5), (A)(6), (B)(2) or (B)(3) above is a felony to be prosecuted under appropriate state law.
(R.C. § 2909.03)
(E) Determining property value or amount of physical harm. The following criteria shall be used in determining the value of property or amount of physical harm involved in a violation of division (A)(1) or (B)(1) above:
(a) If the property is an heirloom, memento, collector’s item, antique, museum piece, manuscript, document, record or other thing that is either irreplaceable or is replaceable only on the expenditure of substantial time, effort or money, the value of the property or the amount of physical harm involved is the amount that would compensate the owner for its loss.
(b) If the property is not covered under division (B)(1)(a) above, and the physical harm is such that the property can be restored substantially to its former condition, the amount of physical harm involved is the reasonable cost of restoring the property.
(c) If the property is not covered under division (B)(1)(a) above, and the physical harm is such that the property cannot be restored substantially to its former condition, the value of the property, in the case of personal property, is the cost of replacing the property with new property of like kind and quality, and in the case of real property or real property fixtures, is the difference in the fair market value of the property immediately before and immediately after the offense.
(1) As used in this section, FAIR MARKET VALUE has the same meaning as in R.C. § 2913.61.
(2) Prima facie evidence of the value of property, as provided in R.C. § 2913.61(D), may be used to establish the value of property pursuant to this section.
(R.C. § 2909.11(B) - (D))
Statutory reference:
Aggravated arson, felony offense, see R.C. § 2909.02
Arson offender registration, see R.C. §§ 2909.13, 2909.14 and 2909.15
Convicted arsonist to make restitution to public agency, see R.C. § 2929.71