Restaurateur Is Convicted of Arson, Conspiracy in Stanton Fire

A Stanton restaurateur was found guilty Friday of torching her restaurant for the insurance money.

Nga Tuyet Nguyen of Garden Grove, a divorced mother of two children, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Robert J. Kelleher scheduled sentencing for April 18.

Jurors deliberated about three hours before finding Nguyen, 49, guilty of arson, conspiracy and mail fraud.

Her Au Bon Temps de Saigon restaurant, at 7147 Katella Ave., was destroyed by fire Jan. 13, 1987. Prosecutors said Nguyen filed for $135,000 in insurance compensation. She had opened the restaurant nine months before with a federal Small Business Administration loan.

Arson investigators quickly concluded that the blaze had been set.

Witnesses from a nearby business reported seeing two people running from the restaurant after they heard an explosion just as the fire began. They had noted the license number of a car they saw leaving the scene. The car was registered to Diep Lam Harris, 46, of Westminster, and police questioned and arrested him.

Harris, who agreed to cooperate, told authorities that he and Nguyen, with whom he had been romantically involved, set the fire to collect insurance. The crime was Nguyen’s idea, Harris said.

Harris has pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy count and could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.

Nguyen and Harris both testified in the trial. Harris said he participated in the crime because Nguyen had “charmed” him into cooperating; Nguyen claimed Harris set the fire as revenge for her having broken off their relationship.

But the key piece of evidence in the trial was a secretly tape-recorded conversation between the two made the day after the fire, after Harris had agreed to cooperate with authorities.

Knowledge of Fire Denied

On it, Nguyen--who denied to the end that it is her voice on the recording--castigates Harris for sloppy work. Jurors also heard Nguyen order Harris to stick with the story they had concocted that Harris’ car had been stolen the night of the fire and that he knew nothing about the blaze.

Nguyen, from the witness stand, insisted that she knew nothing of the fire. She maintained that she had ended her relationship with Harris several months earlier because, she said, he did not tell her that his wife was in the United States.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Kendra S. McNally produced records showing that Nguyen had called Harris five times the day after the fire.

Nguyen said someone had called her anonymously and told her that Harris had been involved in a serious auto accident. She insisted that she made the calls because she was still concerned about Harris.

McNally told jurors to use the tape--”the words out of her own mouth”--and their “common sense” in finding Nguyen guilty.

Nguyen emigrated from Vietnam in 1972 and became a naturalized citizen in 1984, according to her attorney, federal Public Defender Harriet Hawkins.

The restaurant, which received favorable reviews in three newspapers, was losing money at the rate of about $6,000 a month, according to testimony. Nguyen requested and received a series of deferrals but never made any repayments on the SBA loan, according to testimony.

Prosecutors alleged that Nguyen submitted a $135,000 insurance claim after the fire. Hawkins said that only $70,000 was paid on the loss and that the entire amount went to the Small Business Administration as Nguyen’s creditor.

McNally said there is no decision yet on the sentence the government will seek for Nguyen, whose children are 11 and 13.