CA Restaurateur Charged with Arsons after Probe

Katie Dowd

SFGate, San Francisco

(TNS)

Aug. 31—A Central California restaurateur used intimidation and arson to bully employees and collect nearly $1 million in fraudulent insurance claims, prosecutors said in an affidavit filed earlier this month. Robert "Bobby" Salazar, who runs a chain of Mexican restaurants and has a salsa retail business, faces decades in prison if convicted.

According to Salazar's website, he currently has three eponymous taquerias in Fresno, North Fresno and East Clovis, as well as two cantinas in downtown Clovis and North Fresno. In addition, his salsa and guacamole line is sold in Costcos, Walmarts, Safeways and more across California, the West Coast and even Hawaii and Texas. But all of this success was not enough for Salazar, prosecutors allege in a stunning 22-page affidavit.

In April 2024, surveillance footage taken from a residence near a Bobby Salazar's Taqueria in Fresno showed a black SUV making several passes of the restaurant around midnight. On the third pass, the driver parked, and two people, a man and a woman, emerged holding gas cans, prosecutors said. Shortly after 1 a.m., the man could be seen bending over and igniting a fire near the back door, the affidavit alleges.

The restaurant went up in flames, and when Fresno firefighters arrived, they discovered three separate fires burning inside the restaurant. A K9 trained to sniff out accelerants located multiple ignition points, leading fire investigators to suspect arson, prosecutors said.

Investigators learned the restaurant at 2389 N. Blackstone Avenue had closed a few months prior after the franchisee informed Salazar they were terminating the lease. Since then, Salazar allegedly said the location was used as storage for his other restaurants. A month after the restaurant closed, Salazar renewed his insurance policy with Hartford, raising the coverage an additional $100,000 from the prior year, prosecutors said. Hartford would later pay out the nearly $1 million insurance claim to Salazar, investigators said.

While searching for the two people seen on the surveillance footage, investigators obtained a search warrant to look for cell phones that pinged in the approximate area at the time of the fire. They discovered two alleged co-conspirators, who are unnamed in the affidavit, although one is described as the president of the Screamin' Demons Motorcycle Club. When detectives pulled phone records for the co-conspirators, they allegedly discovered a series of incriminating text messages, including one that said "yeah, you got paid all that money from bobby f—king to do what" and "I took penitentiary chances for ur stupid ass."

As federal investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives zeroed in on Salazar, they discovered an alleged pattern of threats and arson. In 2020, shortly after Salazar's sister ended her marriage, her ex-husband's house was set on fire with a Molotov cocktail; the man told investigators he'd seen Salazar allegedly casing his house. A month later, a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the window of a law office representing a former employee of Salazar's who was suing him for wrongful termination. A second employee, who filed a discrimination lawsuit against Salazar, had three of his cars set on fire with gasoline.

The restauranteur "has boasted about being willing to use fire to carry out criminal ends," the affidavit reads. In all, prosecutors believe he started at least five arson fires, using each of them "to solve business problems."

Salazar, 63, was taken into custody on Tuesday, but he posted a $1 million bail by Friday and was released from jail to await trial.

Salazar initially faced two felony charges: arson of a commercial property and arson in furtherance of a federal felony. The first charge carries a minimum sentence of 5 years and a maximum of 20. The second has a 10-year mandatory sentence. After his home was raided during his arrest, investigators said they found multiple illegal guns, and there may be additional charges filed against him.

"I'm innocent until proven guilty," Salazar told ABC30 on Friday. "They're just trying to ruin my name."