Ex-Lieutenant Accused of Warnings, Explosives Delivery in Esparto Blast Case

Defendants were back in court in Yolo County, and the Esparto fireworks case shifted again when prosecutors said former sheriff’s lieutenant Samuel Machado had explosives delivered to his front door and warned operators when inspections were coming. Machado pleaded not guilty, and a judge denied bail for now after victims’ relatives pressed to keep defendants locked up as the case moved deeper into active prosecution.

The explosion tore through the site near County Roads 23 and 86A in Esparto on July 1, 2025, killing seven people and injuring two others. It also sparked the 78-acre Oakdale Fire, turning a hidden explosives operation into one of the most serious criminal cases California has seen tied to illegal fireworks. Yolo County declared a local emergency on July 8, 2025, to help secure state and federal support as investigators worked through the wreckage and the fire scene.

What prosecutors now describe goes far beyond bad storage and sloppy paperwork. The case has been built around allegations of a long-running illegal fireworks enterprise involving concealment, repeated warnings, and coordination that let the operation keep running. The Yolo County Civil Grand Jury sharpened that picture on March 26, 2026, saying county officials received a tip in June 2022 about two pyrotechnic businesses on the site, knew Yolo County had banned fireworks businesses countywide since 2001, and still failed to stop what was happening there. The grand jury’s report said staff had seen both “safe and sane” and more dangerous fireworks stored in containers on site.

The scale of the operation is now part of the story too. Prosecutors have said the warehouse held more than a million pounds of illegal explosives, and Ronald Botelho III faced 10 felonies and one misdemeanor, including conspiracy, illegal possession of explosives, making and possessing a destructive device without a permit, and giving an explosive device to a person without a permit. The state’s enforcement response has already been severe. CAL FIRE revoked the pyrotechnic licenses of Devastating Pyrotechnics and Blackstar Fireworks, and Cal/OSHA later issued 15 citations totaling $221,000 to Devastating Pyrotechnics and its successors.

The human loss remains the center of the case. The seven victims were identified on July 11, 2025, after DNA analysis, and the coroner said all seven died from multiple blast and thermal injuries. Among them was 18-year-old Jesus Ramos, whom family members said was on his first day on the job. With Machado now accused of helping shield the operation and warning it about inspections, the public understanding of the blast has changed from a single catastrophic fireball to a wider question of who knew, who profited, and who let it continue until seven people were dead.