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Bowling Green Jury Convicts Store Manager of Arson

A week-long trial in Bowling Green has ended with an arson conviction.  Fifty-seven-year-old Debra Kessinger was charged with setting fire to the Dollar General Store in Horse Cave where she was the manager. 

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Kentucky, a federal jury  deliberated just over two hours Friday before finding Kessinger guilty of setting the fire in 2011. 

According to testimony during the trial, the Smiths Grove woman deliberately set the fire in the store’s breakroom to conceal information about the missing inventory and money.  The day of the fire, the store was to begin an audit process that would have exposed Kessinger, who was the manager at the time. 

She faces between five and 20 years in prison at sentencing scheduled for March.

The award-winning news team at WKU Public Radio consists of Dan Modlin, Kevin Willis, Lisa Autry, and Joe Corcoran.