SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Less than three weeks before a deadly explosion in Esparto, the company that operated the fireworks compound in the small town about 40 minutes from Sacramento tried to claw back tons of fireworks seized by law enforcement in Southern California, citing its close relationship with the Yolo County Sheriff’s Department, according to an email from the company’s attorney.

The company, Devastating Pyrotechnics, openly acknowledged ownership of the seized contraband fireworks and argued it should be allowed to transfer them to Esparto, shedding new light on how it used its connections with local enforcement to give cover to its business selling and storing illegal fireworks and explosives.

The email is also a further indication that, despite previous claims, the state office responsible for policing the fireworks industry was aware that some of the explosives seized in Southern California belonged to Devastating Pyrotechnics, weeks before the explosion on the company’s Esparto compound killed seven workers there.

The June 12 email from Sam O’Keefe, the attorney for Devastating Pyrotechnics owner Kenneth Chee, proposed that the company be allowed to remove 3,600 cases of seized fireworks O’Keefe said belonged to them, and transport them to Esparto.

“Esparto is in Yolo County and the Yolo County Sheriff and Esparto Sheriff are aware of the warehouse and what the warehouse is used for,” the email said. “I have spoken with our client. His company owns approximately 3600 cases of the ‘dangerous fireworks’ at the warehouse.”

“Our client has the means and the authorization to transport the fireworks to a safe and approved location,” O’Keefe added. At the time, the fireworks were under a stop-work order issued by the Los Angeles County Fire Department, which prohibited tampering and required 24-hour security.

The recipient of the email, attorney Ryan Hiete, represented the owner of the warehouse where the fireworks were seized. He said he reported Devastating Pyrotechnics’ request to Cal Fire and federal officials during a video call.

“They all agreed that the contents of the warehouse could not be moved in a commercial way,” Hiete told The Bee. “The entire warehouse was full of these materials, which had been seized by the agencies. We had no control over that, and we were just cooperating with the agencies and taking guidance from them.”

A spokesperson for Yolo County Sheriff Tom Lopez said his agency would not comment on the assertion that his department had approved of Devastating Pyrotechnics operation, due to “the pending litigation.”

“If you’re trying to undermine an order by moving your property when everything’s supposed to stay in place, then that’s a problem, and should have been a big red flag,” said Mary Inman a partner at the law firm Whistleblower Partners, which specializes in fraud-related cases involving corporate and government negligence.

“This is so sad for the families to see that there were warning flags, multiple warning flags,” Inman added. “Somebody should have been looking at this and going on a site visit and fixing this stuff, before we had fatalities.”

On Monday the state fire marshal said it had completed its investigation into the Esparto explosion and found evidence of “illegal activity.” The agency said it forwarded its findings to the Yolo County District Attorney for possible criminal charges.

No criminal charges have been filed to date against any individual who had an ownership role in Devastating Pyrotechnics, or against any public officials who played a role in allowing the company to operate. Several civil lawsuits have been filed against both Yolo County and the State Fire Marshal

An alarming request

The communication from O’Keefe followed a May 21 raid by Cal Fire and federal law enforcement that yielded a trove of 500,000 pounds of fireworks stored in a warehouse in the city of Commerce.

While there is no “Esparto Sheriff,” as O’Keefe asserted in his email, the property that Devastating Pyrotechnics operated on was owned by Samuel Machado, a Yolo County Deputy Sheriff, who lives in Esparto along with several family members who work or have worked for the sheriff’s department.

Machado has been on paid leave since the July 1 explosion. His sister-in-law, Reiko Matsumura, who owned an adjoining property where fireworks were stored, retired from the sheriff’s department in October.

The Esparto operation also operated in plain sight of the tiny community’s fire department. Records obtained by The Bee show that local Fire Chief Curtis Lawrence was not only aware of the fireworks on the site, but signed off on a crucial building permit, though his agency never conducted any safety inspections.

The email from O’Keefe also suggested that the company’s general manager, Neal Li, who later died in the explosion, could come and retrieve tons of fireworks seized in Commerce, California and truck them 426 miles to Esparto.

“His (Chee’s) GM is able to come to the warehouse and identify what is theirs and arrange for safe and secure transportation to a secure, approved, and licensed warehouse in Esparto, CA,” the lawyer wrote.

In his June 12 email, O’Keefe, who is a law partner with Douglas Horngrad, Chee’s current criminal defense attorney, provided some licenses and certifications that Devastating Pyrotechnics had for its legitimate business, which included putting on professional fireworks shows for cities such as San Jose and Yuba City as well as for racetracks, casinos and other clients. O’Keefe also stated that he sent the same licenses to Cal Fire.

O’Keefe did not respond to a request for comment.

How a video conference call with officials unfolded

After fielding calls and the email from O’Keefe in June, Hiete contacted the federal Environmental Protection Agency, Cal Fire and Los Angeles County Fire, which had issued the stop work order that prohibited the removal of any fireworks and required a 24-hour guard to secure the seized materials, to request a meeting

In an email to all three agencies, which The Bee obtained through a public records request, Hiete said: “Due to the circumstances of this matter, including the contents of materials currently located within the warehouse, we believe this meeting needs to happen as soon as possible.”

On a June 18 video conference call, Hiete said he explained O’Keefe’s unusual request. The agencies conveyed that the company’s request was a “non-starter” because the pyrotechnics were under a seizure order.

Hiete described the warehouse’s owner as a family-owned real estate company.

“My client had zero knowledge that fireworks were being stored at this property, and the tenant’s conduct was a flagrant and knowing violation of both the lease and the law,” Hiete said. “This was not a technical misstep or a misunderstanding; it was a deliberate misuse of the premises that created a serious threat to the safety of people in the area.”

Cal Fire denied it had enough information to raid Esparto before the tragedy

Cal Fire’s Office of the State Fire Marshal has previously stated that it lacked sufficient information to determine whether the seized fireworks in Commerce belonged to Devastating Pyrotechnics, or to be certain the company was engaged in wrongdoing.

In a November interview, State Fire Marshall Daniel Berlant said that evidence pointing to the Esparto company was inconclusive because it came from the lease-holder at the Commerce warehouse, Johnny Chek, who also stored fireworks there and allowed Devastating Pyrotechnics to keep fireworks on site.

“There was a lot of finger-pointing and a lot of assertions made by that individual, specifically Mr. Chek,” Berlant said. “And so as part of any investigation, we then had to start beginning the process to unwind what was true, what were false statements.”

Asked to respond to the email from O’Keefe, Cal Fire spokeswoman Kara Garrett said it is a “very complex matter.”

“There have been numerous leads that our team has fielded,” she said. “Each lead takes time to investigate to ensure that it is supported by facts and evidence that our peace officers can hand over to the District Attorney’s Office.”

Garrett added, “Without knowing the details of the specific conference call that you and Ryan Hiete spoke about, we do know that Ryan Hiete, in his capacity as representative of the property owners, contacted Arson Bomb Investigator Nick Schroeder about the fireworks seized from the Commerce warehouse.”

Schroeder was on the June 18 conference call, according to emails.

“It’s mind-boggling that state and federal officials had credible information that this company was importing massive quantities of fireworks, which are illegal in California,” said Charley Weeth, a fireworks expert who has assisted with fireworks accident investigations and consults on regulation. “They’re illegal because they are dangerous and overloaded with explosives and hurt a lot of people.”

A warehouse was constructed, never mentioning fireworks

Had officials inspected the Esparto warehouse where Chee’s attorney said he wanted the fireworks transported, they would have found it filled with illegal explosives. Photographs, including some taken just before the day of the explosion, show it was packed floor to ceiling with black market fireworks that are illegal in California.

According to a source familiar with Devastating Pyrotechnics’ operations, who asked for anonymity to avoid retribution, the company operated for more than a decade on Machado’s property, paying $3,500 in rent.

However, an expansion in black-market dealings led to a need for more space. Machado agreed to construct a warehouse in 2021, and Chee agreed to finance it through higher rent.

But Chee balked at installing a fire-suppressing sprinkler system after he was told it would cost $50,000, the source said.

According to county records, the warehouse was constructed in 2021 and 2022. During the building permitting process, emails show Machado and a representative told county building officials that the warehouse would be used to store almonds and farm equipment and would have no employees using the building.

Those declarations allowed the building to qualify for an agricultural exemption and bypass the requirement to install a sprinkler system. Although county building officials were skeptical, citing the presence of fireworks on the property, they approved the exemption, and the building was constructed without a fire suppression system.

When Cal-OSHA issued $221,000 in fines for the explosion that killed seven workers, the agency said the fire began in the warehouse and noted that there was no fire suppression system or proper access to fire extinguishers.

According to the source, after the warehouse was completed and Yolo County officials issued the AG exemption, Kenneth Chee’s rent increased from $3,500 per month to $11,000.

“The problem,” Inman said, “is that the deputy sheriff was not an impartial player; he was receiving payments from this company, and those payments could be viewed as a kickback to yield influence.”

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