BATON ROUGE - Fire investigators arrested an accused arsonist after determining that he set fire to a vacant home in a botched attempt to get an insurance payout.

The Baton Rouge Fire Department said Jeuane Session, 43, was booked Monday with a felony charge — arson with intent to defraud — after a lengthy investigation into the fire on Sumrall Drive. 

Investigators noted that Session seemingly set the property on fire in the early morning hours of March 26, 2023 in attempt to "fraudulently claim insurance benefits from multiple insurance companies." 

According to an arrest warrant, a witness saw Session pull up to the house, take something out of the back of his car and then walk to the back of the house. The witness told officers a short time later the house was glowing and then completely on fire. 

During investigation, Session told officers that he was renovating the home and it had no electricity for more than a year. He said he was living at his girlfriend's apartment complex at the time. Investigators noted that the home was barren and didn't even have sheetrock on the walls. 

Investigators compared notes with insurance agents - and Session gave them a whole different story. Session said his home and all of the contents, totaling $160K, were destroyed in the fire and was looking for an insurance payout. He also told the insurance company that he was not at his girlfriend's house, but at a club when the fire happened. 

Cell phone records disproved both of Session's alibis. Officers said his phone was at the home when the fire started, even though he told authorities he had not been there since a week prior.