Arsonist ordered to pay nearly $1M to Dollar General and insurance company

June 13--GLASGOW -- A federal judge has ordered Debra Fowler Kessinger, convicted of arson in November, to pay nearly $1 million in restitution.

The defense objected at the sentencing hearing to the amount suggested by prosecutors, and Joseph H. McKinley Jr., chief judge for the U.S. District Court, Western District of Kentucky, ordered both parties to submit arguments as to how much Kessinger should have to pay as part of her punishment for setting a fire that destroyed the Dollar General Store in Horse Cave in June 2011.

Kessinger was also sentenced to six years in prison, plus three years of supervised release following that, according to court documents.

After considering those arguments, the judge on Thursday filed an amended judgment form, following up on an order of restitution filed May 29. Both say she is to pay $412,587.42 to Dollar General and $569,856.70 to Owners Insurance Co., which paid the claim to the insured to reimburse it for the loss.

The unanimous guilty verdict followed a weeklong trial in Bowling Green with a federal jury, which deliberated for a little over two hours.

In a press release after the initial sentencing in March, Acting U.S. Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr. said: "This defendant not only devised a scheme to defraud her employer, but then attempted to torch a commercial building in order to cover her tracks. The Jury's conviction and today's sentence is the result of outstanding collaborative work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and the Western Kentucky Arson Task Force."

"Arson is a violent crime that causes millions of dollars in property damage and puts the safety of the general public and fire service personnel at great risk ... ," ATF Special Agent in Charge Stuart Lowrey said via the press release. "Today, a dangerous criminal was removed from this community and imprisoned for several years."

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