Kentucky Store Owner Indicted on Arson Charges

The owner of a Louisville, Ky. area store has been indicted, charged with allegedly setting fire to her business to collect an insurance settlement and open in a new locale.

Fire investigators say a blaze at Campbell's Gourmet Cottage in August of 2006, which destroyed much of the building and its inventory, was intentionally set.

Authorities allege that Susan Kay Lukjan was experiencing financial problems at the time and was in difficult lease negotiations with the Trinity High School Foundation over the property. Lukjan sued Trinity, but the suit was reportedly settled out of court.

Lukjan later reopened her business in the Woodlawn Shopping Center on North Hubbards Lane in St. Matthews.

Lukjan, who was to be arraigned this week, has been charged with second-degree arson, burning personal property to defraud an insurer and fraudulent insurance acts covering more than $300.