Lyndell Price
Introduction
Lyndell Leroy Price, 44, a Houston businessman, has been ordered to serve 105 months in federal prison for conspiring to commit arson of a commercial building. The Justice Department’s announcement on October 30, 2026 carries the headline “Former Turkey Leg Hut owner sentenced for role in arson-for-hire scheme,” the identification through which the office presented him. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake imposed the 105-month sentence, to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. Price admitted as part of his guilty plea — entered June 11, 2026 — that he directed others to intentionally set fire to Bar 5015, a Houston business owned by his former partner.
Background Information
The bar that burned and the business Price is publicly tied to were connected, according to court records cited in the release. Bar 5015 on Almeda Road was owned by Price’s former partner. Shortly before the fire, court records show, the owner had declined Price’s offer to buy into the bar and refused to sell his interest in the Turkey Leg Hut, an establishment the owner ran together with Price’s estranged wife. The case was investigated by the FBI’s Houston office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Houston Fire Department Arson Bureau, with assistance from the Houston Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the Harris County Constable’s Office – Precinct 4.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Convicted and sentenced. Price pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit arson of a commercial building and has been sentenced to 105 months in federal prison. His plea admitted the conduct described below; the arson itself took place in the early morning hours of June 12, 2020, while the guilty plea and the sentence are the 2026 events that closed the case.
In the early morning hours of June 12, 2020, per the court records recounted in the release, the conspirators bought gasoline and gas cans before going to an area near the business. Wearing face coverings and carrying gasoline-filled containers, they walked to Bar 5015, poured gasoline across the entrance ramp and deck, ignited it, and fled. The fire caused significant damage to the business and endangered nearby occupied homes, commercial properties, and the electrical grid. After the arson, a member of the conspiracy called Price to report that the mission was complete, and the conspirators then received payment from Price for their roles in the crime. As part of his plea, Price admitted he directed others to intentionally set fire to the bar.
In handing down the sentence, the court noted that Price directed the arson of Bar 5015 without any regard for the safety of those who live nearby or the damage the explosion and fire would have on neighboring businesses, and Judge Lake stated that Price’s lack of respect for the law warranted a high sentence as a measure of deterrence and to protect the community, according to the release. Price pleaded guilty on June 11, 2026, and Judge Lake ordered the 105-month term to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release.
Four other members of the scheme were named in the same announcement as having already resolved their cases: John Lee Price, 39, Armani Williams, 28, Miziah Shepherd, 28, and Javon Harris, 27, all of Houston, previously pleaded guilty to the same charge and will be sentenced at a later date. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sebastian A. Edwards and Keri Fuller prosecuted the case.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The sentence was made public through the U.S. Attorney’s Office announcement, whose headline led with the Turkey Leg Hut identification and its account of an arson-for-hire scheme aimed at a bar owned by Price’s former partner. The immediate consequence is a 105-month federal prison term with three years of supervised release to follow, imposed by a judge who cited deterrence and community protection as reasons for the high sentence. The release records no public comment from Price. The four co-defendants named in the announcement await their own sentencings, meaning the courtroom consequences of the June 2020 fire are still unfolding for everyone the government charged. The announcement sets no sentencing dates for the four, saying only that they will be sentenced at a later date.
Current Status
Price will remain in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future, according to the release. His sentence of 105 months in federal prison is to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. The arson-for-hire case against the group is otherwise not closed: John Lee Price, Armani Williams, Miziah Shepherd, and Javon Harris have pleaded guilty to the same charge and are awaiting sentencing at dates not yet set in the announcement.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The sentence sends the man the Justice Department’s own announcement identifies as the former Turkey Leg Hut owner to federal prison for nearly nine years for directing the burning of a business his former partner refused to sell him a stake in. The conviction is final at the sentencing stage — an admitted, pleaded-to arson conspiracy — and the supervised-release term that follows the prison sentence will extend court supervision years beyond it. His transfer to a Bureau of Prisons facility is the next step in the case as announced.
Sources
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Texas, “Former Turkey Leg Hut owner sentenced for role in arson-for-hire scheme,” October 30, 2026 — source