William Mozingo: Kidnapping, Guilty Plea, and Prior Record

William Mozingo Jr., a 34-year-old Ohio man, was sentenced in November 2024 to 25 to 31½ years in prison after pleading guilty to kidnapping and brutally assaulting 23-year-old Chloe Jones, whom he held captive for four days in an Akron garage. The plea came moments before jury selection was to begin, and the sentence was by far the longest Mozingo had received in a criminal record that included at least five earlier Ohio convictions for abduction, kidnapping, or related offenses over 15 years.¹

What Happened to Chloe Jones

Jones, from Chardon, Ohio, connected with Mozingo online and arranged a ride to his location in Akron. She was homeless at the time, and he had promised her shelter. When she arrived at a home on 11th Street SW in Akron’s Kenmore neighborhood, Mozingo took her phone and refused to let her leave.²¹

Over the next four days, Mozingo beat Jones with a baseball bat and his fists, strangled her, doused her in gasoline, and threatened to set her on fire. She suffered a broken hand, a broken nose, extensive bruising, and a traumatic brain injury. During the captivity, Mozingo recorded more than 400 videos in which he could be heard threatening her and demanding payment for cigarettes.³⁴

How Police Found Her

The homeowners where Mozingo had been staying discovered him and Jones in their garage. The female homeowner called 911, telling dispatchers that Mozingo was a “violent offender,” a friend who had previously paroled at the residence, and that he had escaped from a community correctional facility about six weeks earlier.²

Akron police responded on October 16, 2023. Body camera footage shows officers surrounding the garage and ordering Mozingo out. After breaking down a door, officers found Jones on a plywood platform inside and recorded her crawling down a ladder to safety. She was taken to a hospital for treatment. As Mozingo was placed in custody, body camera audio captured him saying, “I love you, Chloe.”²⁵³

The Plea and Sentence

On November 12, 2024, moments before jury selection was scheduled to begin in the Summit County Court of Common Pleas, Mozingo pleaded guilty.⁶ His pleas covered:

Two counts of kidnapping, both first-degree felonies
Five counts of felonious assault, all second-degree felonies
One count of abduction, a third-degree felony
One count of strangulation, a third-degree felony
One count of escape, in a separate case stemming from his September 2023 escape from the Summit County Community-Based Correctional Facility, where prosecutors said he climbed under a fence⁶

Summit County Common Pleas Judge Susan Baker Ross sentenced Mozingo to 25 to 31½ years for both cases combined. “The conduct here is extreme. I think it should be met with extreme punishment,” she told him, adding, “The pain and harm that you caused this victim will never be gone from her.”¹

Mozingo told the court he was “fueled by methamphetamine” during the crimes and apologized to Jones and her family. Addressing him directly, Jones said, “Because of you, I have traumatic brain injury, anxiety, PTSD and night terrors,” and closed with, “After today, you will go to prison, and I will go to my son and my family.”³¹

A Long Record of Similar Crimes

Much of the attention around the case focused on how often Mozingo had been convicted of similar offenses before, and how short the earlier sentences were. Jones’s mother, Jessi Barham, told the court, “This is not the first time you have abducted a woman and tortured her,” and argued that Mozingo “should not have been out,” asking Judge Ross to “do what every other judge has failed to do.”¹

His documented prior cases:

2009, Adams County: Pleaded guilty to abduction, domestic violence, and endangering children. Sentenced to 18 months in prison.¹
2011, Adams County: Pleaded guilty to abduction, a third-degree felony. Sentenced to three years in prison and three years of mandatory post-release control; he completed the prison term in November 2013.⁷
2014, Adams County: Convicted of another felony abduction while on post-release control. He received a nine-month prison sentence plus an 862-day judicial sanction for the post-release-control violation, to be served consecutively. Reporting from the Beacon Journal dated the guilty plea to 2015 with a nine-month sentence.⁷¹
2017, Stark County: Pleaded guilty to abduction and aggravated menacing. Sentenced to 18 months in prison.¹
2020: Pleaded guilty to felonious assault in an unrelated case; the location, victim, and sentence length were not detailed in available reporting.¹
2023, Summit County: Served six months in the Summit County jail for drug possession and was placed on two-year probation starting in April 2023.²

By the time he kidnapped Jones in October 2023, Mozingo had been out of custody for only months, and even that was unlawful: he had escaped the Summit County Community-Based Correctional Facility in September 2023 by climbing under a fence.⁶

1
Akron Beacon Journal. William Mozingo Pleads Guilty to Kidnapping, Assaulting Chardon Woman
2
News 5 Cleveland. Mother Says Her 23-Year-Old Daughter Thought She Was Going to Die After Being Held Captive and Beaten
3
Court TV. OH v. William Mozingo Jr. – Four Days of Hell Trial
4
Local 12. Serial Kidnapper Held Ohio Woman Hostage, Beat Her With Baseball Bat, Learns His Fate
5
Cleveland 19. Caught on Camera: Police Rescue Woman Held Captive in Akron Garage for Days
6
Cleveland 19. Jury Trial to Begin for Man Accused of Kidnapping Akron Woman, Holding Her Captive in Garage
7
Ohio Supreme Court. State v. Mozingo, 2016-Ohio-8292