Restaurateur accused of hiring biker to burn his Fresno eatery enters plea

Thaddeus Miller, The Fresno Bee on Aug 28, 2025

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FRESNO, Calif. — A Fresno restaurateur accused of hiring an outlaw motorcycle gang leader to burn down one of his eateries denied the charges in federal court on Thursday.

Robert “Bobby” Salazar, 63, is accused of the 2024 arson scheme at one of his eponymously named Bobby Salazar’s Mexican Restaurant locations in Fresno. He was charged with arson to a commercial property and arson in furtherance of a felony.

He faces a third charge of possessing a gun with an obliterated serial number, which was announced in the courtroom Thursday. Salazar was returned to custody after pleading not guilty Thursday, with a bail hearing set for Friday.

Salazar appeared the previous day in the Eastern District Court of California but his case was continued when an attorney did not show. He was represented by a public defender on Thursday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara A. McAuliffe said during the hearing she was “a little hesitant” to appoint a public defender for the restaurateur, but did so provisionally until a hearing on his ability to pay could be held. The public defender declined to comment on Thursday.

The alleged plan involved 40-year-old Thomas Qualls, who investigators identified as the president of the Screamin-Demons Motorcycle Club in Sanger. The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office referred to the club as an “outlaw motorcycle gang.”

Prosecutors allege Salazar hired Qualls to set fire to the restaurant on Blackstone Avenue south of Shields Avenue at about 1:30 a.m. on April 2, 2024. Qualls was arrested and accused of an arson on May 2, 2024, though authorities at the time of the arrest did not identify the restaurant as the target of the blaze.

The 2839 N. Blackstone Ave. location had been run by a franchisee and reportedly was not performing well before it closed in January 2024. Salazar increased the coverage of the insurance by $102,000 about a month before it closed, according to court records.

Salazar collected nearly $1 million in insurance money after the fire, according to records.

Salazar remained in custody on Thursday. The judge set a detention hearing for Friday, and the preliminary hearing for Sept. 11.

After Qualls was arrested, deputies searched the motorcycle clubhouse and seized multiple guns and ammo, according to the sheriff’s office. Deputies also took Nazi and white supremacist regalia from the clubhouse.

An attorney for Qualls did not respond to a request for comment.

Investigators allege Salazar had a history of using fire to settle disputes and he was in 1997 convicted of felony charges after pleading no contest to fraud and possession of stolen property. He was sentenced to a year in a work-furlough program and 600 hours of community service.

Salazar asked someone to steal his car in November 1996, according to Bee archives. He later admitted he left the keys in his truck so it could be taken. Salazar filed a police report and then an insurance claim, court records show.

The new complaint alleging arson written by an investigator from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ties Salazar to other arsons and fire bombings. Those include alleged arsons of the cars of former employees who had running disputes as well as throwing a Molotov cocktail at the home of a former brother-in-law.