[StBernard] 7 men plead guilty in LeBeau Plantation fire, apparently spurred by ghost stories

[Westley Annis]

7 men plead guilty in LeBeau Plantation fire, apparently spurred by ghost
stories

NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Print Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Benjamin
Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
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on September 03, 2014 at 7:38 PM, updated September 03, 2014 at 8:06 PM

Seven men, who apparently were looking for ghosts when they trespassed onto
the LeBeau Plantation in Old Arabi before four of them burned it to the
ground on Nov. 22, 2013, recently pleaded guilty and were sentenced in the
incident, according to the St. Bernard Sheriff's Office.

The men, between the ages of 17 and 31 at the time of their arrests, either
pleaded guilty to arson or trespassing charges, with the four of men who
pleaded guilty to simple arson each receiving prison terms, according to the
Sheriff's Office.

At the time of their arrest, St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jimmy Pohlmann said
the men had been smoking marijuana and drinking in the vacant house before
they set fire to it.

"They had been looking for ghosts, trying to summon spirits, beating on the
floors," Col. John Doran, who oversees the Sheriff's Office's criminal, said
at that time.

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

No one was injured in its blaze, which could be seen for miles.

In the past 60 years since it was last inhabited, the house had gone through
many decades of decay, including another suspicious fire in 1986 that
engulfed its roof and attic.

At that time, it was a common place for homeless people to sleep and for
teenagers to congregate in the evenings, many of them hoping to see the
ghosts of the supposedly haunted mansion, according to Michelle Mahl Buuck,
who wrote, "The Historic LeBeau Mansion: A Forgotten Monument."

Landin was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with five suspended, and with
credit for time already served, according to the Sheriff's Office.

All four will be on active probation for five years after the sentences are
served, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Three others, Kevin Barbe, who was 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, who was 21 when arrested, each pleaded guilty to criminal
trespassing.

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

Meek and Allen, from the Dallas area, each were sentenced to six months in
the parish jail, with credit for time served. Allen has been released, while
Meek was sent to Texas authorities on a probation hold, according to the
Sheriff's Office.