{"id":268966,"date":"2026-04-15T11:58:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/268966\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T11:58:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:58:34","slug":"victims-families-fill-courtroom-as-esparto-explosion-case-delayed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/268966\/","title":{"rendered":"Victims\u2019 families fill courtroom as Esparto explosion case delayed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Defendants,<\/p>\n

Defendants, from left, Douglas Tollefsen, Jack Ying Lee, Craig Allen Cutright and Sam Machado appear in Yolo County Superior Court in Woodland on Monday, April 13, 2026. Tollefsen, operations manager of Devastating Pyrotechnics; Lee, show producer; Cutright; and Machado, a former Yolo County sheriff\u2019s deputy, face seven counts of murder and other charges in connection with the Esparto fireworks explosion. Their arraignment was delayed until Thursday.<\/p>\n

PAUL KITAGAKI JR.<\/p>\n

pkitagaki@sacbee.com<\/p>\n

A handful of defendants \u2014 including a former Yolo County Sheriff\u2019s lieutenant and his wife \u2014 indicted in last July\u2019s deadly Esparto fireworks explosion appeared Monday in Yolo Superior Court on charges of murder and a string of other counts tied to the disaster will return Thursday for further arraignment.<\/p>\n

Seven workers were killed July 1 in the powerful blast<\/a> that leveled Devastating Pyrotechnics\u2019 fireworks warehouse: Jes\u00fas Ramos, 18; Jhony Ramos, 22; Joel \u201cJunior\u201d Melendez, 28; Carlos Rodriguez-Mora, 43; Angel Mathew Voller, 18; Christopher Bocog, 45; and Neil Li, 41.<\/p>\n

Dozens of the workers\u2019 family members filled the rows of the first-floor courtroom in Woodland. Some wore T-shirts honoring their loved ones, waiting for a glimpse of the men charged with taking their lives last summer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Former sheriff\u2019s Lt. Samuel Machado, who with Tammy Machado, owned the Esparto compound where Devastating Pyrotechnics and BlackStar Fireworks were leveled in the explosion. He faces 26 charges including seven counts of murder \u2014 one for each of the blast victims \u2014 in the explosion.<\/p>\n

\"Former Former Yolo sheriff’s deputy Sam Machado appears in Yolo Superior Court in Woodland on Monday, April 13, 2026. His arraignment on seven counts of murder and other charges related to the Esparto fireworks explosion was delayed until Thursday. PAUL KITAGAKI JR. pkitagaki@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

Machado wore a white T-shirt and leaned against a side wall inside the courtroom\u2019s holding cell, away from the view of victims\u2019 families. His attorney, David Fisher, won a delay of his arraignment until Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Craig Allen Cutright, the show producer and volunteer Esparto Fire Protection District firefighter who formed BlackStar Fireworks, also saw his arraignment on 10 counts connected to the blast postponed until Thursday. He faces allegations related to possessing, transporting and conspiring to transport explosive materials.<\/p>\n

\"Devastating Devastating Pyrotechnics show producer Craig Allen Cutright appears in Yolo Superior Court in Woodland on Monday, April 13, 2026. His arraignment on seven counts of murder and other charges related to the Esparto fireworks explosion has been delayed until Thursday. PAUL KITAGAKI JR. pkitagaki@sacbee.com \"Douglas Douglas Tollefsen and Jack Ying Lee, operations manager of Devastating Pyrotechnics, appear in Yolo County Superior Court in Woodland, on Monday, April 13, 2026. Their arraignment on seven counts of murder and other charges related to the Esparto fireworks explosion was delayed until Thursday. PAUL KITAGAKI JR. pkitagaki@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

\u2022 Jack Y. Lee, Devastating Pyrotechnics\u2019 operations manager, faces 16 counts, including the murder allegations. His arraignment was also postponed after his defense counsel during the months-long criminal probe into his connection to the deadly blast, said she was no longer representing him. Yolo County\u2019s conflict attorney\u2019s panel will review Lee\u2019s financial history to determine whether it will represent him.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Douglas Tollefsen, an associate of Devastating Pyrotechnics founder Kenneth Chee, allegedly helped import millions of pounds of explosives into the country from overseas before they were moved to Esparto to be repackaged and sold as consumer fireworks. The Rio Linda man appeared with attorney Darryl Stallworth and will return for the Thursday morning hearing. He faces 17 counts in all, including murder allegations connected to the blast.<\/p>\n

Lee, Machado and Tollefsen remain held without bail in Yolo County custody. Cutright is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail at Yolo County jail.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Gary Chan, who is alleged to have received a license in 2014 for a business that used the trade name Devastating Pyro Displays, faces counts related to possessing, transporting or conspiring to transport destructive or explosive devices, is expected to be arraigned Tuesday on seven counts of murder, along with various explosives counts, in Yolo Superior Court. He is expected to appear again Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"Tammy Tammy Kiku Machado, wife of former Yolo sheriff’s deputy Sam Machado, appears in Yolo Superior Court in Woodland with attorney Steven Sabbadini on Monday, April 13, 2026, for her arraignment on charges related to the Esparto fireworks explosion. PAUL KITAGAKI JR. pkitagaki@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

\u2022 Tammy Machado, the former sheriff\u2019s legal secretary, appeared on allegations brought in a second indictment including mortgage fraud and animal cruelty. She pleaded not guilty to all charges, and is expected to appear Thursday for further proceedings. Machado, who bailed out of sheriff\u2019s custody, remains free on her own recognizance.<\/p>\n

The couple, who had been on leave from the Sheriff\u2019s Office since the blast, left the agency in March<\/a>, sheriff\u2019s officials said Friday.<\/p>\n

The blast victims\u2019 families in December filed a $35 million claim<\/a> against Yolo County, state fireworks regulators and public officials, alleging widespread negligence in the disaster.<\/p>\n

The indictments do not change the families\u2019 position that several other public officials and agencies are liable, Ramin Younessi, an attorney representing the family of the Ramos brothers, said after the hearing.<\/p>\n

\"Family Family members of victim Angel Mathew Voller leave the Yolo County Superior Court in Woodland on Monday, April 13, 2026, after watching proceedings ahead of the arraignment for Sam Machado, Douglas Tollefsen, Craig Allen Cutright, Jack Ying Lee and Tammy Kiku Machado. The defendants face seven counts of murder and other charges related to the Esparto fireworks explosion. PAUL KITAGAKI JR. pkitagaki@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

\u201cThese people have been operating in plain sight without the proper permits. Everyone must have known about it,\u201d he said. \u201cFrankly, it\u2019s just unforgivable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The victims\u2019 families said they intend to share an impact statement during Thursday\u2019s hearing. California law gives victims the right to be heard when matters concerning bail are addressed.<\/p>\n

The hearings in Woodland this week formalize the web of charges defendants face in the blast that killed seven workers and led to a nine-month criminal grand jury probe, described by Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig as the most complex in that county\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\"Douglas Douglas Tollefsen stands with attorney Stephen Betts during his appearance in Yolo Superior Court in Woodland on Monday, April 13, 2026. His arraignment on seven counts of murder and other charges related to the Esparto fireworks explosion has been delayed until Thursday. PAUL KITAGAKI JR. pkitagaki@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

This story was originally published April 13, 2026 at 4:45 PM.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Darrell Smith<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Darrell Smith is a local reporter for The Sacramento Bee. He joined The Bee in 2006 and previously worked at newspapers in Palm Springs, Colorado Springs and Marysville. Smith was born and raised at Beale Air Force Base and lives in Elk Grove.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defendants, from left, Douglas Tollefsen, Jack Ying Lee, Craig Allen Cutright and Sam Machado appear in Yolo County…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-268966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}