Arsonist apologizes for damaging restaurant where he’d been manager

A fired Qdoba Mexican Grill employee was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for setting fire to the building.

“I would like to apologize to the city of Lexington for my actions,” Bennie C. Davis told U.S. District Judge Joseph M. Hood.

Davis, 21, accepted a plea agreement in October to one count of malicious arson of a building used in interstate commerce.

No one was in the building and no one was hurt in the April 25 fire that heavily damaged the interior of the restaurant on Tiverton Way off Nicholasville Road. It has not reopened.

Davis had been fired as a shift manager at the Odoba before the blaze. He lived with four other restaurant employees and took one roommate’s key without permission to get into the building.

During the sentencing, Davis also apologized to the four roommates for destroying their workplace.

“Fortunately, nobody got hurt,” Judge Hood said.

Hood ordered that Davis pay $250,000 in restitution to Qdoba, but defense attorney Steven Howe said later that it is questionable whether Davis can repay that amount.

Hood also ordered that once Davis is released from prison, he is to have no contact with any Qdoba properties.

“You need help with your anger management,” Hood told Davis.

This story was originally published January 29, 2018 at 2:02 PM with the headline "Arsonist apologizes for damaging restaurant where he’d been manager."