Former Fort Bliss soldier convicted of stealing $1.12 million worth of MREs

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(USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect) – A former U.S. Army soldier turned civilian contractor was found guilty of stealing $1.12 million worth of MREs from Fort Bliss in a scheme to resell the items online, authorities said.

An El Paso federal jury convicted Joseph Lavar Davis, 47, on one count each of conspiracy to commit theft of government property and theft of government property on Wednesday, June 24, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Justin R. Simmons announced in a news release.

Davis, a former soldier who had been working as a civilian contractor at Fort Bliss since 2020, was part of a group that stole more than 200 pallets of Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) valued at about $1.12 million, according to a federal indictment.

A sentencing date for Davis is set for Oct. 15. Court records do not state what the maximum sentence Davis is facing.

FBI and U.S. Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division agents launched an investigation into the missing MREs. The thefts occurred between Feb. 24, 2020 and Aug. 12, 2020.

The agents executed a search warrant on Aug. 12, 2020 at a warehouse in El Paso, where they found about 100 pallets of MREs, the news release states.

Each pallet contained 12 MREs per box with 48 boxes per pallet for a total of 576 MREs per pallet, the indictment states.

The investigation revealed that Broberg, the owner of the company using the warehouse, was purchasing the MREs from the soldiers who had stolen the items from Fort Bliss.

Davis used fraudulent memos requesting the MREs “as though they were legitimate military requests for MREs, when defendants knew that the MRE requests were fabricated,” the indictment states.

The indictment states Broberg made two payments of $9,018 and $3,032 on March 25, 2020, to Fuse for the MREs. Fuse paid Davis $2,000 for his role in the scheme. Davis paid Turner $1,333.

Broberg paid $18,175 for more pallets and put the money into an account under Turner’s name on Aug. 4, 2020, the indictment states. The money was taken by Turner and Davis.

Fuse pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to commit theft of government property and theft of government property. He is set to be sentenced on July 23.

Turner and Broberg pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit theft of government property. Turner is set to be sentenced on Oct. 29, while Broberg is set to be sentenced on July 23.