Former Qdoba Employee Pleads Gulity To Arson

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A Lexington, Ky., man has entered a guilty plea to a federal arson charge, which involved a fire at a local business where he had previously been employed.

Bennie C. Davis, 21, entered his guilty plea today, before Senior U.S. District Judge Joseph M. Hood.

In his guilty plea, Davis admitted that, on April 25, 2017, he entered the Qdoba Restaurant located on East Tiverton Way, in Lexington, after the store had closed and then set fire to the building.  Davis had been recently discharged from a management position with Qdoba, a position he had held for several years.

Acting U.S. Attorney Carlton S. Shier, IV; Stuart Lowery, Special Agent in Charge, ATF; and Kristin Chilton, Chief of the Lexington Fire Department, jointly announced the guilty plea.

The ATF and the Lexington Fire Department conducted the investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger West prosecuted the case on behalf of the federal government.

Davis will be sentenced on February 29, 2018 and faces a minimum sentence of five years.  He must serve at least 85 percent of his prison sentence.