Fresno restaurant owner Bobby Salazar pleaded not guilty to federal charges of mail fraud and arson related to a 2024 fire that destroyed one of his eateries.

Appearing at the Robert E. Coyle U.S. Courthouse in downtown Fresno on Monday afternoon, Salazar answered to a six-count indictment returned by a grand jury Oct. 23.

Serguel Akiti, the attorney from Queens, New York, representing Salazar, formally entered the not guilty plea in front of U. S. Magistrate Judge Barbara A. McAuliffe. Salazar, accompanied by his wife Lucy Ruiz, did not say anything in court. He declined comment upon exiting the courthouse.

Federal prosecutors accuse Salazar of hiring the leader of a Sanger motorcycle gang and an accomplice $10,000 to burn Bobby Salazar’s Restaurant on Blackstone Avenue in central Fres

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