Woman sentenced after trying to burn down competing Ohio salon

MONROE, Ohio — A woman who owned a nail salon was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for attempting to set a competing nail salon on fire in Ohio.

Officials said 46-year-old Kim Lien Vu of Liberty Township admitted that she’d conspired to cause damage to another business, our news partners at WCPO-TV reported.

According to Federal Prosecutors, Vu “developed animosity towards individuals at a competing nail salon” and began conspiring with her employee to “exact revenge” on the other salon as early as December 2022.

Vu, along with 29-year-old Cierra Marie Bishop of Hamilton and 18-year-old Makahla Ann Rennick of Hamilton allegedly planted an incendiary device inside Bora Bora Nail Salon on Hamilton Lebanon Road in Monroe.

On Feb. 5, Bishop and Rennick can be seen on surveillance footage entering the nail salon. Officials said Rennick booked a pedicure under the name Katelynn, allegedly at Vu’s request.

According to officials, Bu told Rennick to “just use another name. Sound White.”

In the surveillance footage, Rennick can be seen receiving the pedicure with Bishop sitting next to her. Bishop eventually can be seen walking toward the rear of the salon carrying two white bags.

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Officials said Bishop placed one of the bags behind a desk before leaving the salon.

A salon employee found the planted device and reported it smelled like gasoline. The employee allegedly opened the package and saw it looked like an explosive device, they took it outside near the salon’s dumpsters.

Officials said when the employee went back outside to check on it, it was burning, Monroe responded to the nail salon for a reported dumpster fire.

Text messages found on Bishop’s and Rennick’s phones revealed the three had been planning the device for at least one week, according to Officials.

A preliminary investigation of Bishop’s iPhone provided evidence that Vu enlisted Bishop, with the help of Rennick to build the incendiary device with a remote ignition and plant the device at the salon on Feb. 5, 2023. Based on the text messages, officials believed the plan was to detonate or ignite the device that evening and destroy the salon.

The text messages seemed to indicate that Vu, Bishop, and Rennick referred to the plan as ‘Job 1′, according to court documents obtained by WCPO.

Vu pleaded guilty to the crime in September 2023 and was sentenced to 46 months in prison today.

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