A former soldier was found guilty of stealing more than $1 million of Meals-Ready-to-Eat, or MREs, from Fort Bliss, Texas.
Joseph Lavar Davis, 47, was convicted by a Texas jury for a heist that included tens of thousands of MREs worth more than $1.1 million, Department of Justice officials announced Tuesday.
The MRE theft took place between February and August 2020 and included 200 pallets of the field rations. Each pallet contains roughly 576 MREs, according to federal court documents. In all, this means that the grand MRE theft included about 115,200 meals — some of which are good, some of which are not.
MREs are the military’s go-to meals for troops in the field. They are designed to last in brutal conditions and be eaten in the roughest environments, without access to a microwave or stove. They are enjoyed by some but ridiculed by most. Food options have historically included fan favorites like beef stew or maple-flavored sausage patties, but in 2025, the Pentagon announced they were testing new flavors and snacks like Thai curry chicken and chocolate peanut butter bites.
As a soldier, Davis worked in food service supply, where he learned how the military buys and obtains MRE supplies, according to the Department of Justice. After his retirement, Davis was hired for a similar role, albeit as a civilian contractor. Officials said he used his position “to exploit the process and steal MREs,” and that as part of the grift, Davis coordinated the delivery, sales price and payments for the stolen MREs.
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Davis was named with three other defendants in a February 2025 federal indictment.
“Each of the indicted individuals played a role in the scheme, which involved a civilian contractor who knew how to request and pick up the MREs, a soldier to assist in picking up and transporting the MREs, an intermediary between the buyer of the MREs and these two individuals, and the civilian who sold the MREs online,” Justice officials said.
Davis and two defendants created and submitted memos “as though they were legitimate military requests for MREs,” according to the indictment.
The second defendant was assigned to the 1st Armored Division and worked at Fort Bliss, and the third, like Davis, was former military. Justice Department officials did not give details on the other defendants in their press release, but court documents show that the other former service member pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit government property theft and signed a plea deal in February 2026. Details of the plea deal were not available online.
The team of conspirators rented trucks to transport the MREs to a fourth defendant, according to court documents, who operated a company that ran an El Paso, Texas, warehouse where the stolen MREs were then sold. Court records indicate that the defendant from the warehouse paid the three other defendants nearly $44,350 in separate payments in March and August 2020.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons wrote that “Joseph Davis betrayed the very country he once swore to protect in an effort to satisfy his own selfish ambition and a jury of his peers held him accountable for it.”
