MADERA – Madera Police responded to a report of a silent alarm at the Frosty Queen Restaurant on North Gateway Drive Thursday night. Police discovered the restaurant had just been broken into, and the safe was removed from the property. A quick search of the area uncovered a suspect hiding in the bushes along Freeway 99.
Suspect Dache Kelly, Jr. (23) of Riverside, California, told police he knew nothing of the burglary and was just trying to nap in the bushes while traveling through Madera. His story might have worked if it were not for the digital surveillance system the restaurant employs that produced high-definition photos of Kelly in the restaurant and breaking into the office to remove the safe.
Madera Police thought it might be best if Kelly finished his nap in a cell at the Madera County Jail, where he was booked for burglary charges. However, following an arraignment the next day, a Madera County Superior Court Judge set Kelly’s bail at $50k, and he was released with a return court date of Tuesday, August 8th.
The story might have ended here with a trial to follow, but Dache Kelly Jr. is what law enforcement calls a “frequent flyer” in the court systems of Southern California. Most recently, Kelly was arrested on June 9 for a series of 28 burglaries in Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, and San Diego counties by the Riverside County Sheriff's Office.
Following that arrest, he was booked into the Riverside County Jail, where he was released last month on $120,000 bail. Kelly also has multiple convictions in Southern California for similar crimes and several unresolved felony cases pending adjudication in Riverside County. BVN Does not know if Riverside County has been contacted regarding Kelly’s recent felony nap in the city of Madera. Madera County Sheriff Tyson Pogue told BVN, “We don’t have the authority to revoke bail. Only a judge can do that.”
In an update to our original story, Kelly was a no-show Tuesday in department 22 of the Madera County Superior Court. The judge revoked Kelly's bail, which he posted Friday, and issued a $50k bench warrant for his immediate arres0 and return to Madera County.t.
This is the second burglary at Frosty Queen in the last year; the first, the restaurant reported no losses as the suspect fled when police arrived. However, a photo was also taken of that suspect when he broke into the local burger joint. In this most recent break-in, surveillance also caught the suspect, Kelly, in the act, and the safe was found in the bushes near where Kelly was arrested.
Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez told the media following Kelly’s June arrest, "We have seen a significant increase in burglaries to our local businesses here in Riverside just this year. Our hope is for our state legislators to amend current laws to better hold these criminals accountable for the damage and losses they are causing to our business owners. But in the meantime, our detectives will keep working feverishly to protect Riverside."
If you have any information on the whereabouts of Dache Kelly, you are asked to contact the Madera Police Department at (559) 675-4220.
