The plan was simple: buy gasoline, drive to the bar, burn it down. What made it a federal crime was who gave the order. Lyndell “Lynn” Price, 44, co-founder of Houston’s once-iconic Turkey Leg Hut, admitted in federal court on June 11, 2026 that he directed a Turkey Leg Hut employee to recruit a crew and set fire to Bar 5015, a popular Almeda Road nightclub owned by Steve Rogers, his former business partner and one-time co-owner of the Turkey Leg Hut. The bar’s owner was a former co-owner of the Turkey Leg Hut and Lynn’s former business partner.
The crew didn’t improvise. Members of the conspiracy purchased gasoline and gas cans before traveling to the area near the business. They poured gasoline along the bar’s entrance ramp before igniting the fire. The explosion shattered nearby windows and sent debris hundreds of feet in every direction, destroying a large portion of the business. A nearby food truck was also destroyed. No one was injured.
At 4:47 a.m. on June 12, 2020, co-defendant John Lee Price called Lynn Price to report the job was done. Lynn told the court he handed the phone to his wife after receiving the call.
That detail caught the attention of U.S. District Judge Sim Lake at the plea hearing.
“You said that you directed John Lee Price to put together a crew to set fire to Bar 5015,” the judge told him. “When John Lee Price called you at 4:47 a.m. to report that they’d set fire to Bar 5015, why were you surprised by his call?” Lynn answered that the call came during the “wee hours” and caught him off guard because he hadn’t yet been awake. When asked directly how he pleaded, Lynn said: “Guilty, sir.”
Lynn is now the third of five defendants to admit guilt; Miziah Shepherd pleaded in November 2025, Armani Williams earlier this month. A fourth defendant, Javon Harris, is expected to follow. Lynn faces 5 to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000, with sentencing scheduled for September 25, 2026.
The conviction marks the legal endpoint of what was once one of Houston’s most celebrated brands. Price and his then-partner Nakia Holmes founded the Turkey Leg Hut in 2015. It grew from a rodeo-area pop-up into a national phenomenon before shutting in 2024, leaving more than $6.5 million in unpaid bankruptcy claims. Holmes, cleared of a separate kidnapping-linked charge earlier this year, has since hinted at reviving the brand.
