A YouTuber with more than a million subscribers turned himself in to Kenner Police after investigators say he illegally entered the abandoned Esplanade Mall to film an urban exploration video that racked up hundreds of thousands of views. Stephen Pamaran, a 33-year-old from Massachusetts who goes by Steve Ronin online, was charged with felony unauthorized entry of a business and misdemeanor unlawful posting of criminal activity for notoriety or publicity.
According to NOLA.com, Kenner Police obtained arrest warrants for Pamaran and a second creator known online as RangerRickTV after receiving a tip about the pair's recorded trip through the shuttered mall. Police say the video shows the two men illegally entering the property, and Pamaran's video reportedly ran one hour and 13 minutes and had drawn 317,000 views. RangerRickTV, who accompanied Pamaran during the exploration and called Esplanade his childhood mall, remains at large; police say they have not located him.
Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley, who reported Pamaran's booking, said social-media-influencer-encouraged explorations could cause someone to get hurt, and he described the mall as an attractive nuisance. The building has been sitting empty since it permanently closed after Hurricane Ida in 2021, and it now shows serious signs of disrepair, including a collapsing roof in some sections and a four-foot sinkhole outside.
A Legal Crackdown on Filming Crime for Clout
Pamaran's misdemeanor charge stems from a 2024 amendment to Louisiana law that makes it illegal to record and post video of criminal activity for notoriety or publicity, a statute that prohibits live-streaming or posting video of oneself committing criminal acts. State Representative Dixon McMakin, who introduced the amendment after seeing viral videos of people entering stores and throwing milk jugs on the ground, said people should not try to become famous by becoming criminals.
The mall has drawn more than curious YouTubers. Authorities say at least one person was arrested for allegedly stripping hundreds of feet of copper from the property, part of a pattern of scrappers and thieves treating the vacant complex as an open target, as previously reported in Hoodline's coverage of the Esplanade Mall copper theft arrest. Jefferson Parish leaders have separately pushed to demolish the structure entirely, an effort detailed in Hoodline's report on the push for a wrecking ball.
A Deadly Pattern Across the Region
Urban exploration has already turned fatal elsewhere in the New Orleans area this year. New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said a 17-year-old Belle Chasse teen fell to his death from an interior stairwell at the vacant Plaza Tower while urban exploring with friends, a tragedy Kirkpatrick called part of a high-risk trend. New Orleans Superintendent Michael Harrison warned against encouraging urban explorations in the wake of that death.
The Plaza Tower has a grim history of its own: an unnamed man fell to his death there in 2023, and the city council approved $2.7 million in 2024 for protective walkways and catch nets around the derelict skyscraper. In 2022, 18-year-old Anthony Clawson died after falling five stories inside the abandoned Market Street Power Plant in the Lower Garden District, another site that has lured explorers into serious danger.
Explorers Have Also Hit Charity Hospital, Old Six Flags
Urban explorers have posted videos from other abandoned New Orleans landmarks as well, including the former Charity Hospital and the shuttered Six Flags park in New Orleans East, according to the report. Kenner attorney Mark McCormick noted that breaking into a business constitutes burglary regardless of whether the intent is content creation rather than theft, underscoring the legal exposure creators face even when nothing is stolen or vandalized.
Kenner Police Chief Conley's warning reflects a broader concern among law enforcement that influencer-driven exploration videos normalize trespassing into structurally compromised buildings. With RangerRickTV still unlocated and Pamaran now facing formal charges, the case adds to a growing list of urban exploration incidents across the region that have drawn scrutiny from both prosecutors and city officials trying to secure blighted properties before someone else gets hurt.
