Mugshots: 9 arrested in I-45 shutdown, cops issue harsh warning on future stunts

Nine members of the Lonestar Slab club have been charged with a misdemeanor for the traffic-clogging photoshoot at the iconic "Be Someone" bridge — and if it happens again, authorities promise harsher consequences. less Nine members of the Lonestar Slab club have been charged with a misdemeanor for the traffic-clogging photoshoot at the iconic "Be Someone" bridge — and if it happens again, authorities promise harsher ... more Image 1 of / 23 Caption Close Mugshots: 9 arrested in I-45 shutdown, cops issue harsh warning on future stunts 1 / 23 Back to Gallery

Nine members of the Lonestar Slab club have been charged with a misdemeanor for the traffic-clogging photoshoot at the iconic "Be Someone" bridge — and if it happens again, authorities promise harsher consequences.

Houston police Chief Art Acevedo berated the accused participants, among them Christopher Lopez, behind the Dec. 2 stunt on Interstate 45 as "a bunch of irresponsible members of our community" and warned that drivers who want to do a repeat under the Houston landmark will face felony charges.

RELATED: Indicted road rage driver arrested for stopping traffic under 'Be Someone' bridge

The stunt was flaunted in a video that was passed to Acevedo soon after it was recorded and then used to help authorities track down the drivers involved.

"Their motivation is to be out there and show they're kings of the roads and make a name of themselves. And they videotape and put it out there for the world to see," Acevedo said Wednesday during a news conference.

A murder charge, he said, is a guarantee should "the chain reaction" from future incidents result in death.

Lopez was among the nine arrests stemming from the Traffic Enforcement Division's month-long investigation into the unauthorized photo shoot that Acevedo celebrated. The 48-year-old co-creator of Lonestar Slab is also accused of chasing and shooting at a car of egg-throwing teens before a deadly New Year's Day wreck. He has been charged with manslaughter.

Lopez and eight others have been charged with obstructing a highway. Walter Williams, 30; Alexies Stephens Jr., 30; Jarvis Randle, 31; Victor Pailiet, 33; Josue Iracheta, 26; Eduardo Espino, 31; Joseph Deboest, 40; and Noah Cantu, 22, have been charged for their alleged participation in the traffic standstill.

Additional arrests are expected, officials said. Pailiet has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2004 with arrests that include aggravated sex assault, interfering with the duties of a police officer and possession of a prohibited weapon, records show. This was the first arrest in Harris County for Williams and Stephens.

Capt. Kenneth Campbell said the brunt of those arrested "didn't seem to grasp the severity of what happened."

"These guys literally didn't care about any laws or anyone else," said Sean Teare, chief of the Harris County District Attorney's Office Vehicular Crimes Division. "They stopped their cars, 12 of them at least, and stopped every lane."

The crackdown is not an attack on slab culture, he noted.

"These cars are works of art," Teare said, "but there's a time and place to display your cars and show them off properly, even on the roads. Interstate 45 under the bridge is not that place."

Future arrests for similar stunts will automatically result in a felony deadly conduct charge — even if no one is hurt or killed, Teare said.

The intensified charge, according to Acevedo, is merited.

"I don't want to wait until somebody gets stuck behind these vehicles in a big rig and decides, 'You know what? To hell with these guys. I'm going to plow into them,'" Acevedo said, listing off scenarios ranging from road rage to a domino effect of crashes.

"I don't want to wait until somebody loses their mind out there and decides to shoot at people because of this foolish behavior," the chief said.

Acevedo patted Officer James Kneipp on the back prior to the press conference for his work in identifying several members of Lopez's car club accused of blocking traffic.

Kneipp detailed in charging papers that those accused were identified through a minute-long video shared to the Kandy_Red_Bread Instagram account, which law enforcement sources said is run by Pailiet. The footage showed the license plates on about a dozen customized vehicles, known in Houston as slabs.

Pailiet was arrested Monday night and shared an image from the same social media account while in the back of an HPD cruiser.

"I'll be out by tomorrow," Pailiet wrote, showing the divider between him and the officer typing into his console computer.

A 10th person believed to have participated in last year's highway photoshoot has been arrested on an unrelated warrant for child neglect in Waller County, Teare said.

A similar feat under the iconic train trestle resulted in a viral video in 2015 after a man set up a traffic blockcade to propose to his girlfriend. She said yes, but he was charged with obstructing a highway after an off-duty police sergeant was caught in the traffic jam. The case was dismissed after the groom-to-be wrote apology letters to the sergeant, the officer who investigated the incident and "the members of the public who were affected by this offense," according to court documents.

Stephen Tucker Paulsen contributed to this report.

nicole.hensley@chron.com