Lyndell Price pleads guilty in Bar 5015 arson conspiracy case

Lyndell “Lynn” Price’s guilty plea marked the clearest turning point yet in the Bar 5015 arson case, a federal investigation that has shadowed Houston’s restaurant and nightlife scene for years. Price, the former Turkey Leg Hut co-owner and current owner of The Oyster Hut, changed his plea from not guilty to guilty during a hearing on June 11, 2026, in a case tied to the fire and explosion that hit the Third Ward nightclub at 5015 Almeda Road on June 12, 2020.

Federal prosecutors say Price now faces a possible prison sentence of five to 20 years, with sentencing set for September 2026. The plea resolves Price’s fight over the core charge, conspiracy to commit arson, and it strengthens the government’s claim that the Bar 5015 fire was not a random act but part of a coordinated plan. Price’s admission also gives new weight to the theory that the blaze was deliberately organized, rather than the product of a sudden dispute or isolated retaliation.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Price allegedly recruited a group that included Williams, John Price and others to carry out the fire in early June 2020. Prosecutors said gasoline was poured at the entrance ramp before the fire was ignited, and that Price later paid participants after the arson. The indictment also tied him to an earlier April 2020 plot involving a stolen blue 1975 Chevy Nova, suggesting the Bar 5015 case fit into a broader pattern of alleged arson planning.

The fire’s impact extended well beyond the nightclub itself. Bar 5015 sits in a dense stretch of Third Ward near the Museum District, where a blast and fire could unsettle nearby homes, businesses and customers along Almeda Road. For a neighborhood that depends on steady foot traffic and trust in its local entertainment corridor, the blaze became more than a criminal case. It became a test of whether high-profile restaurateurs could be separated from the damage left behind when violence reaches into a commercial block.

The plea also matters because it lands in a case with multiple defendants and lingering questions. Click2Houston reported that Price was the third of five defendants to admit guilt, and KHOU reported that Miziah Brice Shepherd also pleaded guilty in connection with the same fire. Prosecutors have said the other four defendants allegedly bought gasoline, gas cans and face coverings at a Houston truck stop before driving in a black Ford Fusion to Bar 5015, details that continue to point to planning, coordination and intent. The guilty plea closes one major chapter, but the case still carries the weight of what happened in Third Ward and what it exposed about Houston’s celebrity restaurant culture.