Lyndell “Lynn” Price once had NBA stars, rappers and comedians waiting in the same long line as everyone else just to get a taste of his food. Now he is trading the kitchen for a prison cell, and the message he left behind on his way out has people doing a double take. For years, his rest aurant ranked among the most talked-about Black-owned eateries in the country. Then the cracks started showing, first with a very public divorce filing and later with Price’s firing from the business he helped build. Houston Turkey Leg Hut co-founder Lynn Price once drew lines around the block at his Houston restaurant. Now, he’s headed to federal prison and his ex-wife has something to say. (Photo: Lynns_garage/Instagram). Those headlines turned out to be the warm-up act. Back in 2020, a nightclub just down the street from his restaurant went up in flames before dawn, and it took federal investigators years to name who was really behind it. When the bill finally came due, he apologized in a courtroom. But a message posted through his business the very same day sang a very different tune. Turkey Leg Hut Co-Owner Says She Fired ‘Abusive’ Husband Over ‘Financial Mismanagement,’ Vows to Get Unpaid Workers Their Checks Turkey Leg Hut Forced to Shut Down for Good Right Before the Holiday: Bankruptcy, Scandal, and a Bitter Divorce at the Helm The 44-year-old co-founder of Houston’s Turkey Leg Hut will serve nearly nine years in federal prison for ordering a Third Ward bar’s firebombing. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake sentenced Price on Oct. 30 to 105 months behind bars, followed by three years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The judge said Price set the scheme in motion with no regard for the families living nearby or the businesses next door. He added that Price’s lack of respect for the law called for a stiff sentence. Price and his then-wife, Nakia Holmes, turned a rodeo turkey leg stand into a Third Ward hotspot known for oversized stuffed turkey legs. The target of the fire, Bar 5015, sat less than 200 yards from the restaurant. Its owner, Steve Rogers, was a former business partner who also held a stake in the Turkey Leg Hut, the Houston Chronicle reported. Prosecutors said Rogers rejected Price’s offer to buy into the club and refused to sell his Turkey Leg Hut stake shortly before the fire. Then, before sunrise on June 12, 2020, a crew Price directed bought gasoline and gas cans and covered their faces. They poured fuel across the bar’s entrance ramp and deck, lit it and ran. One attacker later called Price to confirm the job, and Price paid him. A former employee, John Lee Price, not related to Lynn Price, said he was paid $1,400 for his role. No one was hurt and the bar reopened weeks later, but the case went unsolved until Price’s arrest in April 2025. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson on June 11. Four other men have also pleaded guilty and await sentencing. At the hearing, defense attorney Chukwudi Egbuonu called Price “an individual that has lent the helping hand.” Egbuonu pointed to his relief work after natural disasters and during the pandemic. Price also apologized before learning his fate. Lake wasn’t swayed. Then came the twist. Price posted a statement on the Instagram page for The Oyster Hut, the restaurant he launched after leaving the Turkey Leg Hut. In it, he claimed he took the plea deal not because his purpose is bigger than a prison cell. “I’ve accepted a guilty plea not because this is something I’ve done but because I know that my purpose is greater than being behind these walls,” he wrote. “Every guilty person isn’t guilty and every innocent person isn’t innocent.” He said he chose not to gamble on a trial, adding, “For the sake of my family and loved ones, I decided against battling the unknown.” Lynn Price, former Turkey Leg Hut co-founder, sentenced to nine years in federal prison. (Photos: the_oysterhutxpress/Instagram) Coming from a man who admitted under oath that he directed others to torch his former partner’s bar, that line didn’t exactly land the way he may have hoped. Longtime followers of the saga could hardly believe it. “Whew. This story just got worse throughout the years,” one person wrote in the comments section of an X post. A second person asked, “He was moving like that behind poultry?!” Others questioned the punishment itself. One person noted, “Nine years is excessive if nobody was hurt.” Another floated an idea plenty seemed to co-sign: “We need a Turkey Leg Hut documentary.” There would be no shortage of material. Before the arson case surfaced, the food supplier sued the restaurant for more than $1.2 million. A fire broke out at the business in early 2024 as the estranged couple’s fallout dragged on. By that November, the Turkey Leg Hut had closed its doors indefinitely after a bankruptcy filing. Now, with nearly nine years ahead of him, Price is still insisting there is more to his story. Whether anyone is buying it is another matter. Holmes seemingly responded to the news on her Instagram page. In a collage post, she shared a series of images and screenshots with memes. One read, “Don’t ever forget how you were treated when people thought you were finished.” She also shared an image from her sit-down interview as well as a photo of a Turkey leg dish. “I don’t think anybody fumbled me. I think I wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place,” she noted in her caption. Lynn Price, co founder of Houston’s popular Turkey Leg Hut, has been sentenced to nearly 9 years in federal prison for orchestrating an arson attack on a rival business in 2020. Price, 44, pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to commit arson in connection with a fire at Bar 5015.— CousinTinoFunny (@CousinTinoBack) October 31, 2026 Turkey Leg Hut Founder Fires Off Defiant Message After Being Hit with Nearly Nine-Year Prison Sentence for Firebombing Rival’s Bar ...read more read less