Restaurateur Bobby Salazar entered a plea on new charges Monday as he appeared with a new attorney in federal court.
The owner and face of Bobby Salazar Restaurants pleaded “not guilty” to six counts, including four new counts of mail fraud as well as the arson charges he previously faced in an arraignment in U.S. District Court.
Salazar, 63, has been accused of hiring the head of a Sanger-based motorcycle club to set fire on April 2, 2024, to one of his eateries that had shuttered and was being used for storage.
The new charges came after a federal grand jury returned all six counts on Oct. 23. He also faces an arson charge and a charge of arson to commit a felony. One of his attorneys, Serguel Mawuko Akiti, declined to comment after the hearing.
The mail fraud charges each carry the potential of a 20-year sentence, arson to commit a felony carries a sentence of 10 years and a five-year sentence would be the punishment for a conviction on arson. All the counts also carry $250,000 fines.
Salazar’s salsa company continues to operate as does the Tower District location of his restaurant on Olive Avenue in Fresno as the trial continues.
Prosecutors allege Salazar paid Thomas Qualls, the president of the Screamin-Demons Motorcycle Club, and an accomplice $10,000 to set fire to the Bobby Salazar’s Restaurant at 2839 N. Blackstone Ave.
Salazar had increased the insurance coverage of the location between when it closed in January 2024 and when it burned in April 2024, according to prosecutors. He went on to collect almost $1 million in a payout after the fire.
Prosecutors said Salazar used the insurance payout on a condominium payment in San Francisco, owed taxes and a $500,000 loan.
Salazar has been released on a $1 million bond. Qualls remains in Fresno County Jail, according to records.
Restaurateur Bobby Salazar leaves the Robert E. Coyle Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, after satisfying his $1 million bond. He also retained his own attorney.
An undated photo of the inside of Bobby Salazar’s Mexican Restaurant after a fire burned inside April 2, 2024. Investigators have accused owner Bobby Salazar of arson.
Bobby Salazar’s Mexican Restaurant, permanently closed, shows signs of a fire at its location on Blackstone Ave. just south of Shields Ave. Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025 in Fresno. Fresno restaurant operator Robert “Bobby” Salazar, 63, has been arrested on a federal complaint for arson of commercial property and arson in furtherance of a felony for directing a motorcycle gang member to set fire to an underperforming restaurant property, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.