Five people charged with murder in deadly Northern California fireworks
warehouse explosion
[April 11, 2026]
By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
Five people have been charged with murder in a deadly Northern
California explosion at an illegal fireworks warehouse that killed seven
people and shook a tiny farming community, authorities said Friday.
The charges stem from a grand jury indictment related to the July 1
explosion that injured two others, Yolo County Deputy District Attorney
Clara Nabity said. One of the people charged with murder is Samuel
Machado, who was a Yolo County Sheriff's Department lieutenant at the
time of the explosion. He illegally stored more than 1 million pounds
(453,000 kilograms) of fireworks at his property and used his position
at the sheriff's office to evade scrutiny as the operation grew, she
said.
The explosion near the community of Esparto, about 40 miles (64
kilometers) northwest of Sacramento, sparked a massive fire and led to
nearby Fourth of July celebrations being called off.
"Samuel Machado’s participation included using his role as a trusted
lieutenant to help shield the conspiracy as it expanded, and the
expansion was significant," Nabity said, adding that the warehouse went
from having 13 fireworks storage containers in 2015 to 50 last year.
It was not immediately clear if Machado has an attorney who can speak on
his behalf. A telephone number listed for him went answered Friday.
Machado's sprawling 5,000-square-foot (465-square-meters) warehouse
property was used to store and sell fireworks by other men indicted in
the case.
Nabity said a total of eight people face 30 charges in the case,
including murder, conspiracy to commit a crime, possession of illegal
assault weapons, illegal explosives possession, insurance fraud, child
endangerment and animal cruelty.
All those charged are scheduled to be arraigned in Yolo County on
Monday.
Machado’s wife, Tammy Machado, was also arrested Thursday but was
released after posting bail. She was a non-sworn administrative employee
at the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office at the time of the explosion. Both
Samuel and Tammy Machado were put on leave after the incident. She faces
charges of mortgage fraud, filing a willfully wrong tax return and
endangering a child by storing illegal explosives next to a family pool,
according to the indictment.
Others indicted include Kenneth Chee, owner of Devastating Pyrotechnics,
whose illegal fireworks were being stored at Machado's warehouse, has
also been charged with murder and was arrested in Florida. He appeared
in a Florida courtroom Friday and was told he will be extradited to
California within the week, KCRA-TV reported.
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Smoke and flames rise during a fireworks warehouse explosion near
Esparto, Calif., Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (Kent Porter/The Press
Democrat via AP, File)
Authorities also arrested Jack Lee, the operations manager for
Devastating Pyrotechnic, and Gary Chan Jr., whose name is on the
company’s federal license. Both also face murder charges. The fifth
person charged with murder is Douglas Tollefsen, who was arrested in
Northern California but has yet to be taken to a Yolo County jail,
Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig said. Tollefsen stored and
sold fireworks at Machado's warehouse, according to the indictment.
“This is not a case just about fireworks,” Nabity said. “They are
devices that have so much more explosive fireworks than the law
allows that they can’t be considered fireworks.”
Machado, Chee, Lee, Chan and Tollefsen were arrested Thursday along
with Craig Cutright, the owner of Blackstar Fireworks, which
operated at the Esparto property. Cutright, was a volunteer
firefighter for the Esparto Fire District and was also listed as an
employee of Devastating Pyrotechnics.
One of Cutright’s employees, Ronald Botelho III, has been in custody
since December. More than a dozen new charges were filed against him
Thursday, jail records show.
The grand jury concluded that the initial blast caused the death of
seven people, Nabity said. Those killed included four workers:
18-year-old Jesus Ramos and his 22-year-old Jhony Ramos, of San
Pablo, California; 28-year-old Joel Melendez, of Sacramento, and
43-year-old Carlos Javier Rodriguez-Mora, of San Andreas,
California. Christopher Goltiao Bocog and Neil Li of San Francisco
and Angel Mathew Voller, of Stockton, California, were also killed.
People living nearby described the blast being so strong that it
blew open the doors of homes.
Nisa Gutierrez told the Sacramento CBS affiliate KOVR-TV that she
and her daughter were in their yard and were nearly knocked over as
their pony and goats scattered.
“We hear like a big boom, and feel the wave,” Gutierrez said. “I
thought it was a bomb.”
After the explosion, officials in nearby Sutter and Yuba counties
announced they would find alternatives for Fourth of July
celebrations after their fireworks were destroyed in the blast.
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