Vernon, N.J. Pair Admits To Burning Down Diner For Insurance Money

NEWTON, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The owners of a diner in Vernon, New Jersey have admitted burning it down to collect insurance.

Sussex County prosecutors said Tina Diakos, 49, and Ozkan Cengiz, 40, pleaded guilty to arson on Wednesday.

Prosecutors saidy the pair said business at the Jerzeez Diner in Vernon was not doing well so they drove from their home in Butler and set it on fire in March 2016.

Surveillance video shows someone driving up to the diner – which was then closed – shortly before the fire erupted, CBS2 reported last year.

No one was injured.

Back in march of last year, Diakos was also accused of impeding the investigation into the fire.

"That she offered money or compensation in exchange for a witness or an informant, not to provide information, or to provide false information to law enforcement," Seana Pappas of the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office told CBS2 in March 2016.

Diakos and Cengiz are set to be sentenced in May.