All seven defendants in Lebeau Mansion arson fire of Nov. 22, 2013, have pleaded guilty and been sentenced; four receive prison terms

All seven defendants arrested within hours after the historic 1850s Lebeau Mansion in Old Arabi was destroyed in an arson fire on Nov. 22, 2013, have now pleaded guilty to arson or trespassing charges and have been sentenced, with four receiving prison terms.

Owned by the Meraux Foundation of St. Bernard Parish, the 10,000 square-foot Lebeau Mansion near the Mississippi River, was the largest pre-Civil War plantation house left in the New Orleans area.

The fire was started, Sheriff James Pohlmann said following the arrests of the seven men involved, after they had been smoking marijuana and drinking and wanted to summon ghosts from a legend about the house. Seven men ages t 17 to 31 were arrested within hours after the fire.

Four of them who had all come from the Dallas area to work selling newspaper subscriptions pleaded guilty in state district court in Chalmette recently to simple arson charges. All were sentenced to prison terms.

Dusten Davenport, who was 31 when arrested; Joshua Brisco, 20 at the time; Jerry Hamblen, 17 at the time; and Joseph Landin, 20 at the time, all pleaded guilty to an arson charge.before state District Judge Jacques Sanborn. All but Landin were sentenced to 11 years in prison, with five years of the term suspended, and with credit for time served in St. Bernard Parish Prison since their arrests.

Landin was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with five suspended, and with credit for time already served.

All four will be on active probation for five years after the sentences are served.

Three others, Kevin Barbe, 20 when arrested and who lived in Arabi not far from the Lebeau Mansion; Bryon Meek, who was 29 at the time and Joshua Allen, 21 when arrested, all pleaded guilty to criminal trespassing.

Barbe, the only one of the seven who had made bond – released from jail in January – was sentenced to six months in Parish Prison, with all but 50 days of the sentenced suspended, a period he had served before his release on bond.

Meek and Allen, also from the Dallas area, were both sentenced to six months in Parish Prison, with credit for time served. Allen has been released while Meek was sent to Texas authorities on a probation hold.

The arrests came when sheriff’s detectives followed up on reports at the fire scene that local residents had seen seeing young people coming from the Lebeau property in days just before the fire and one of them had been identified as Barbe.

Sheriff Pohlmann said after the sentences he was glad to see several of the people involved had received prison terms. On the day of the fire and arrests the sheriff had said the culprits didn’t seem to realize they had destroyed a piece of St. Bernard Parish history by what they had done.

From its perch near the Mississippi River, the two-story Lebeau Plantation House weathered many a hurricane since it was built in the mid-1850s but had no chance against the fire early the morning of Nov. 22, 2013.

Firefighters answering the fire call were met by a wall of flames engulfing the mostly wooden structure.

The building, shown over the years on TV specials about South Louisiana mansions along the river, was reduced to its brick chimney stands and just portions of the frame.

No one was injured in the blaze, which could be seen for miles and also damaged a vacant building on a nearby street because of burning embers.

St. Bernard Parish Historian William Hyland said the LeBeau House – built by Franciose Barthelemy LeBeau – was the largest pre-Civil War mansion remaining in the New Orleans area.

It stood on land that was an indigo plantation in the 1740s. There was an older and smaller home which existed on the land prior to the LeBeau House being built in the 1850s, Hyland said. The LeBeau family owned the property from the 1850s to 1906.

In the 20th Century, the house was used as the Friscoville Hotel and then a gambling casino in the 1920s until in 1967 when Joseph Meraux purchased the house. It was damaged by a 1986 fire when some people had been allowed to live there. It had deteriorated badly afterward.

The Meraux Foundation of St. Bernard Parish had owned the property for years and spent money on stabilizing the house but it hadn’t been renovated.