Since then, staff at the sheriff’s office, courthouses and major complexes have received aggressive phone calls from people sympathetic to Kelly, according to Chief of Staff Gerald Castillo.

“It’s just people calling out and expressing themselves. It’s basically making fun of us,” Castillo told NI on Thursday afternoon.

According to Castillo, one of the people who called said it “sounded Hispanic,” adding, “I hope your family gets killed.”

Dispatch logs show that the sheriff’s office received a report Wednesday of “harassment” emails and phone calls received in court.

Speaking on Thursday, Court Chief Paulina Lopez declined to provide details of the call, not even acknowledging that it was related to Kelly’s case.

However, she said:

Castillo said the callers did not identify themselves and the area code indicated mostly out-of-state phone numbers. Castillo added that neither call appears specific enough to constitute a criminal threat.

“They were very vague,” he said.

If the situation changes, the sheriff’s office will work with federal authorities such as the FBI to investigate further, he said. But for now, it seems the caller intends to insult the individual who happens to answer the call.

“Hang up,” Castillo said, offering advice to county officials who might receive similar calls. ”

The case has already been covered in the national and international press and has sparked a barrage of reactions on social media. More than $74,645 has already been raised for it.

“This man doesn’t need to spend the night in jail,” campaign organizers said.

Kelly is currently being held in the county jail on $1 million bail, the amount usually set for the early stages of a Santa Cruz County murder case.

At approximately 2:40 p.m. on January 30, the Sheriff’s Office received a call from U.S. Border Patrol with information of a “possible shooter” in remote Kino Springs near Sagebrush Road. .

Agents went to the scene that afternoon and found nothing, Castillo said.

Later that night, MPs received another report of shots being fired in the Sagebrush Road area. They returned to the scene and found the body of Quen Buitimere on Kelly’s property at 6:24 pm. Authorities said the deceased man was found about 100 to 150 yards from Kelly’s home.

According to Castillo, the victim, identified as Quen Buitimere four days later, appeared to be unarmed, and he and Kelly did not appear to have known each other.

Investigators reportedly determined that Kelly had fired a gun in the area and collected two assault rifles from Kelly’s property to determine if either was used in the firing. .

Speaking last Wednesday, Castillo said Quen Buitimere had obvious bullet wounds to his chest and back, and investigators are working to determine which was the point of entry.

Otherwise, authorities have released few details about the circumstances of the shooting or explained why the sheriff’s office arrested Kelly for first-degree murder.

NI has filed a public records request with the county attorney’s office seeking details of the incident. The county deputy attorney has acknowledged receipt of the request, but the office has yet to release additional information.

Preliminary hearing adjourned

Since his arrest on January 30, Kelly has appeared in court twice. Most recently, he was arraigned before his Nogales judicial court and magistrate Emilio Velasquez filed an acquittal petition on behalf of his Kelly.

According to court documents, his next court appearance was originally set for February 8 at 9:00 a.m. but was later rescheduled for February 22 at the same time.

A preliminary hearing is an appearance in court where the prosecutor presents evidence to establish the probable cause of the crime. If the magistrate determines that probable cause exists, the defendant will be tried on that charge and the case will be transferred to a higher court.

It’s not entirely clear why Wednesday’s hearing was postponed, but that’s not uncommon either.

Kelly’s attorney, Brenna Larkin, did not immediately call Wednesday morning for comment.

In previous court appearances, Kelly has described himself as a rancher. According to information from an unrelated civil lawsuit, Kelly also worked in the hospitality industry and the U.S. government.

CaseText, an online legal research tool, contains an appeal from the first successful lawsuit filed by Kelly and his wife nearly a decade ago against the owners of the now-defunct Kino Springs golf course. is included. The golf course owner contested the decision, arguing on appeal that Kelly and his wife owned and operated a “luxury resort” in Montana during his 1980s and 1990s. wrote that it is indicated by the information established in this case. The Kellys then moved to Arizona “in search of other developmental opportunities.”

In 2002, the couple purchased 170 acres of land in Kino Springs, appellant wrote: Their plans included building a resort called Vermillion Mountain Ranch, and on the grounds of which he would build and sell five ‘lodge houses’. “

“For the Arizona resort, the Kelleys apparently planned to self-finance the resort, estimating the initial cost to build the resort would be $2,405,000,” the document said. is written.

Appellant also alleged that Kelly said he could “charge $1,000 per guest per night, half of which would be profit.”

Kelly also worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a project leader, according to the documents.

Additionally, he appears to have written a self-published novel detailing a fictional story set in the U.S.-Mexico border.

The author of the same name, George Alan Kelly, is listed in association with the 57-page book Far Beyond the Border Fence on Amazon. The piece depicts a man and his wife who live on a ranch in Southern Arizona near the border and share Kelly and his wife’s first name.

The book also claims that an influx of illegal immigrants, along with drug smugglers and smugglers, forced the protagonist to “patroll the ranch daily armed with an AK-47.”

Quen Buitimere’s own background is less clear, and authorities have yet to reveal why he was on the Kelly property or whether he was legally in the country at the time. He has a history of illegal border crossings and deportations in and around Nogales, with the most recent incident recorded in 2016.