ADEL — A former Adel restaurant owner pleaded guilty Monday to burning down her business to receive insurance money.

Peggy Lorraine Parr, of Valdosta, was sentenced to 11 years and will serve 14 to 18 months in a detention center, said Cathy Helms, District Attorney for the Alapaha Judicial Circuit.

Parr owned The Catfish House in Adel when it was set fire Jan. 16, 2003.

She will also have to pay a fine of $25,000 to Cook County and make restitution to the insurance company and to the current owner of the restaurant, Tim Fuller, because there was a second mortgage on the property.

The loss of the 11,200 square-foot restaurant was estimated at $850,000.

Following an examination of the case by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the state Fire Marshal’s office, Parr and another employee, Jennifer Barnes, were indicted.

Barnes and Parr were the only people inside when the last workers left at 10:15 p.m., employees said in a previous edition of The Times.

By 10:24 p.m., the building was on fire.

No one was injured.

The restaurant was opened in 1982 under the name The Little River Barbecue and Fish. Since then, it has gone through at least one other owner before Parr purchased it.

The case against Barnes was dismissed last week. Helms said there wasn’t evidence Barnes had involvement in the case, nor did she profit from the fire.

Attorney Rob Walker represented Parr.