Fireworks company CEO makes first court appearance in deadly Esparto explosion
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- Kenneth Kin Chee made his first Yolo County court appearance Thursday.
- Chee faces murder charges in a fireworks warehouse explosion that killed seven workers.
- Judge Stephen Mock ordered Chee to remain in jail and ineligible for bail.
The founder and CEO of a fireworks company implicated in a deadly explosion that killed seven workers last year in Esparto made his first appearance Thursday in Yolo Superior Court. He was arrested two weeks ago at a Disney World resort near Orlando, Florida.
Kenneth Kin Chee, the founder and CEO of Devastating Pyrotechnics, appeared for his arraignment hearing Thursday afternoon. Chee, 48, was arrested April 9 in Florida and brought back to California, where he was being held without bail at the Yolo County Jail.
Chee faces seven counts of murder and three counts of insurance fraud, along with charges of possessing and transporting explosive or destructive devices; criminal conspiracy; and unlawfully causing a fire.
Judge Stephen Mock granted a defense request to postpone Chee’s arraignment until June 1. Chee did not enter a plea on Thursday to the charges against him.
Douglas Horngrad and Sam O’Keefe, Chee’s San Francisco-based attorneys, appeared with their client in court, with Horngrad attending Thursday’s hearing remotely via video call.
Mock ordered Chee to remain in custody and ineligible for bail. Chee’s attorneys told the judge that they’ll reserve the right to seek a bail review hearing at a later date.
In the days after the Esparto disaster on the July 1, 2025, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Chee worked as an optician for a San Jose-area Costco and had been denied a fireworks license because of a previous felony conviction.
The seven workers killed in the powerful blast in Yolo County were Jesús Ramos, 18; Jhony Ramos, 22; Joel “Junior” Melendez, 28; Carlos Rodriguez-Mora, 43; Angel Matthew Voller, 18; Christopher Bocog, 45; and Neil Li, 41. They died after the explosion leveled the Devastating Pyrotechnics fireworks warehouse.
Five of the eight people indicted April 3 by a Yolo County criminal grand jury, including Chee and former Yolo County sheriff’s Lt. Samuel Machado, face murder charges for their alleged involvement in what led to the deadly warehouse explosion.
At his next court hearing in June, Chee will appear alongside five of his seven co-defendants in the criminal case.
Craig Allen Cutright, Douglas Michael Tollefsen, Gary Y. Chan Jr. and Jack Y. Lee are scheduled to return to court June 1 for their continued arraignment hearing. Like Chee, they have not entered a plea.
The former sheriff’s lieutenant, Machado, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He also is scheduled to return to court June 1 for continued proceedings in Judge Daniel Maguire’s courtroom.
Maguire was not able to have five of the defendants in the courtroom for a hearing on Wednesday. The judge said it created a logistical challenge and safety concerns for sheriff’s officials to have the five incarcerated men in the courtroom at the same time.
Yolo County Deputy District Attorney Deanna Hays told Maguire on Wednesday that this is a problem that the court will have to solve, because the attorneys need to have all defendants present in the courtroom at the same time.
“It is a problem,” Maguire told the attorneys. “I don’t know the exact solution to that problem.”
Maguire said the courthouse has one courtroom on its first floor that could accommodate so many defendants together, but that courtroom needs to remain available for arraignment hearings.
Along with Chee and Machado, Tollefsen, Lee and Chan face seven counts of murder in the case.
Tammy Machado, a former Yolo County sheriff’s legal assistant and Machado’s wife, has also pleaded not guilty to allegations of mortgage fraud and other charges related to the fireworks operation. She is scheduled to return to court June 4.
Ronald John Botelho, another co-defendant in the explosion case, remained in custody Thursday at the Del Norte County Jail, records show. The Yolo DA’s Office and the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office arrested Botelho in Crescent City in December on misdemeanor and felony fireworks charges in connection with the Esparto investigation.
