January 29, 2003

PRESS RELEASE
To: Newsroom
For Immediate Release
Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer
Phone: 673-6652, cell: 455-2609, page: 675-2137

Suspect Pleads Guilt In Arson Case Sentenced to Three and a Half Years

A Shreveport man arrested and charged with aggravated arson by Fire Department investigators last June has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail following a guilty plea . . .

Robert Barber, 32, was arrested on the felony charge following an investigation into an auto and mobile home fire at Forest Mobile Estates that occurred in the early morning hours of July 23, 2002.

That night, Shreveport firefighters arrived at the mobile home park and found a 1996 Saturn heavily involved in flames and the front porch and side of the mobile home at lot 238 on fire. The arresting fire investigator, Randy Stephens, alleged that Barber poured gasoline onto a car and front porch of the mobile home owned by Barber’s estranged girlfriend. No one was home at the time of the fire, which officials said destroyed the automobile and damaged a portion of the mobile home.

Had the case gone to trial, the aggravated arson charge could have carried a maximum jail sentance of 20 years at hard labor. ###