Seven men arrested in arson blaze that destroyed the historic 1850s LeBeau Plantation House in Arabi had ghosts and marijuana smoking on their minds before deciding to set a fire, sheriff says

Sheriff Pohlmann at the podium, discussing arson arrests in LeBeau Mansion fire.

Kevin Barbe of Arabi, booked with accessory to arson and criminal trespassing.	Joshua Briscoe, 20, Grand Prairie, Tx., arson, simple burglary and criminal damage over $50,000.	Joseph Landin, 20, Grand Prairie, Tx., arson, simple burglary and criminal damage over $50,000.
Joshua Allen, 21, Grand Prairie, Tx., arson, simple burglary and criminal damage over $50,000.	Jerry Hamblen, booked with arson, burglary and criminal damage over $50,000	Dusten Davenport, 31, Fort Worth, arson and simple burglary and criminal damage over $50,000.

Bryon Meek, booked with accessory to arson

The seven suspects, about to enter a sheriff’s van for Parish Prison,

Looking for ghosts, smoking marijuana and drinking were the main things on the minds of seven men arrested Friday, only 10 hours after an overnight arson fire destroyed the historic 1850s LeBeau House in Arabi, Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

But their actions didn’t just engulf a building in flames, the sheriff said, St. Bernard Parish “lost a part of its history’’ in the process. And Sheriff Pohlmann, after taking part in the questioning of suspects in the case, told the media \, “ velieve some of them have no idea what they took from St. Bernard Parish.’’

One man was from Arabi, the other six from Texas, and the nexus of them being together and ending up in the LeBeau house was them working together selling a product.

The arrests culminated an investigation by St. Bernard sheriff’s detectives, St. Bernard Fire Department investigators, the federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents, as well as the state Fire Marshal’s Office.

Sheriff Pohlmann said the suspects seemed “intrigued’’ by a legend of ghosts occupying the vacate LeBeau House, built in the mid-1850s and at 10,000 square feet the largest surviving pre-Civil War mansion in the New Orleans area. The two-story building with a cupula had a perch near the Mississippi River at the end of LeBeau Street in Old Arabi.

The seven in custody, five of them booked with arson and burglary, and the others with accessories to arson, had been smoking marijuana and drinking and wanted to see about the legend of ghosts in the house, the sheriff said. The men, between the ages of 17 and 31, arrived at the home late Thursday night, the sheriff said, and likely entered through a gap on the fence around the property that had been knocked down by probably curious trespassers over the years.

“They had been looking for ghosts, trying to summon spirits, beating on the floors,” said Col. John Doran, head of enforcement divisions for the Sheriff’s Office.

Doran also said the men apparently got frustrated when no ghosts came appeared and one decided to burn the place to the ground. Dusten Davenport, 31, of Fort Worth, Texas, was identified as the likely ringleader.

Davenport, along with Joshua Allen, 21, Joshua Briscoe, 20, Jerry Hamblen, 17, and Joseph Landin, 20, all of the Dallas area, Bryon Meek, 29, of Gretna and Kevin Barbe, 20 of Arabi were arrested.

All but Barbe and Meek were booked Friday for arson, simple burglary and criminal damage over $50,000, while Meek and Barbe were booked with accessory to arson and Barbe also with trespassing.

The sheriff gave few details of the investigation leading to the arrests but deputies on the scene of the fire spoke to residents who said young people have been seen coming from the rear of the Lebeau House property recently.

Sheriff Pohlmann also said there are no other known suspects at this time. The sheriff also acknowledged that the LeBeau House, owned by the Meraux Foundation of St Bernard, has had problems in the past with trespassers including homeless people and young people chasing the ghost stories. By 2003, the house, near collapse, had been stabilized, structurally repaired, and readied for an extensive renovation. But since Hurricane Katrina, its windows have been boarded.

From its perch near the Mississippi River in Arabi, the LeBeau Plantation House weathered many a hurricane since it was built in the mid-1850s but had no chance against the fire early Friday morning.

“It’s a shame and a terrible loss for our community,’’ said St. Bernard Parish Fire Chief Thomas Stone, who was at the scene of the blaze that was reported just after 2 a.m. He said there was “a wall of fire’’ engulfing the two-story structure when he arrived.

Firefighters had no chance to save the mostly wooden building at the end of LeBeau Street in Old Arabi, near the Domino Sugar refinery near the Mississippi River. 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 ine was injured in the blaze, which could be seen for miles and also damaged a vacant building on Friscoville Avenue 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 was 10,000 square feet and was truly a grand house,’’ he said. The building was probably the latest known example of the “brick between post’’ architecture common in the 1700s in Louisiana, Hyland said.

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.

In 1967, Joseph Meraux purchased the house but it deteriorated badly since then, some observers have noted. The Meraux Foundation of St. Bernard Parish has owned the property for years. It had a chain link fence around it but there were indications the fence had been pushed down, making it possible for someone to enter, according to a Sheriff’s Office incident report on the fire.

In 1986, a fire damaged the interior and roof of the building when people were living there. Afterward, some restoration efforts were undertaken in the next few years, but the place was never fully refurbished.

Former St. Bernard Parish resident Michelle Buuck wrote a book in the 1990s about the house, later re-issued in 2012, called “The Historic LeBeau Mansion: A Forgotten Monument.”