A Central California restaurateur used intimidation and arson to bully employees and collect nearly $1 million in fraudulent insurance claims, prosecutors said in an affidavit filed earlier this month. Robert “Bobby” Salazar, who runs a chain of Mexican restaurants and has a salsa retail business, faces decades in prison if convicted.
According to Salazar’s website, he currently has three eponymous taquerias in Fresno, North Fresno and East Clovis, as well as two cantinas in downtown Clovis and North Fresno. In addition, his salsa and guacamole line is sold in Costcos, Walmarts, Safeways and more across California, the West Coast and even Hawaii and Texas. But all of this success was not enough for Salazar, prosecutors allege in a stunning 22-page affidavit.
In April 2024, surveillance footage taken from a residence near a Bobby Salazar’s Taqueria in Fresno showed a black SUV making several passes of the restaurant around midnight. On the third pass, the driver parked, and two people, a man and a woman, emerged holding gas cans, prosecutors said. Shortly after 1 a.m., the man could be seen bending over and igniting a fire near the back door, the affidavit alleges…