A woman has been acquitted of charges that she conspired to defraud an insurance company by setting fire to her home in an arson-for-profit scheme.
A Licking County Common Pleas Court jury ruled that Suzanne Spurgeon is innocent of aggravated arson, arson and insurance-fraud charges in the torching of her Newark home four years ago.
It was Spurgeon's second trial on the charges. A jury was unable to reach a verdict in her first trial September.
Authorities say the fire was one of four arsons between 1998 and 2000 arranged by Newark resident Phillip Godbolt, members of his family and friends.
The jurors took three-and-one-half hours to decide that Spurgeon did not conspire with the Godbolts to burn her home for the insurance money.
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