STANTON : Insurance Firm Sues Pair in Arson Case
An insurance company filed suit Monday against two people convicted of plotting to torch a Vietnamese restaurant in Stanton, demanding that they reimburse nearly $200,000 the company paid when the restaurant burned down in 1987.
In the lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court, Pacific National Insurance Co. seeks to force Nga Tuyet Nguyen and her estranged boyfriend, Diep Lam Harris, to pay $195,910 for the fire that leveled the Au Bon Temp de Saigon restaurant at 7147 Katella Ave.
Nguyen, who held a controlling interest in the restaurant, was tried in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on conspiracy, arson and mail fraud charges. She was convicted in July, 1988, and sentenced to three years in prison, the lawsuit states.
Harris pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson and mail fraud and was placed on probation, the suit says.
Pacific National Insurance said in the suit that it paid $195,910 to the owners of the property after the fire.
Attorneys for Nguyen and Harris could not be reached for comment.
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