GoFundMe is removing sites set up by strangers for older Arizona ranchers

GoFundMe has taken down several fundraising pages set up by strangers to help the elderly rancher accused of murder for shooting dead a Mexican migrant on his Arizona ranch.

George Alan Kelly, 73, remains in custody awaiting his next court appearance in Santa Cruz County, Arizona.

On January 30, he shot and killed 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Butimea after illegally entering his ranch in Kino Springs, near Nogales.

Kelly’s friends say he has had problems before with illegal migrants using his country to get through. The elderly rancher has been jailed – where he has remained despite requests to lower his bail.

Kelly’s court-appointed attorney, Brenna Larkin, has yet to attempt to secure his release or lower his bail. The elderly man recently told a judge he had no way of raising $1 million and needed to be released to help his wife raise cattle.

Several GoFundMe pages set up to help Kelly have been removed from the site

Strangers who sympathize with Kelly and see him as a patriot who defended his country set up GoFundMe pages to help him defend his rights.

But the fundraising firm has since removed those pages, citing its policy that it does not allow fundraising in defense of “violent crimes.”

A give-send-go page for Kelly was set up.

This site is less prone to taking down pages and was the place where countless donors donated to help kenosha rioter Kyle Rittenhouse as he fought murder charges in 2021.

Kelly didn’t have a chance to explain why he shot Cuen-Butimea or if he had met him before. Arizona stood up and broke laws, but Kelly’s attorney has yet to cite both.

His court-appointed attorney filed a two-week delay, citing the overwhelming scale of the case as the reason she needed more time to prepare.

A Give Send Go account has been set up for Kelly and remains active. It has raised $5,000 so far

George Alan Kelly will appear in court on February 2 after his bail was set at $1 million

Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, 48, was shot dead by 73-year-old rancher George Alan Kelly on Monday, January 30, after he ransacked Kelly’s land in Kino Springs, a remote area of ​​Arizona just 1.5 miles from the border , had crossed

Kelly’s sprawling Arizona ranch is just 1.5 miles from the Mexico border. His friends say he has had problems with migrant earnings

That means Kelly has to remain in jail for at least two more weeks awaiting a new attorney or his current attorney to file an application.

A newly obtained video shows the frail 73-year-old shuffling in two plastic prison chutes in court.

He then asked the judge to give him his reading glasses so he could read the charges against him.

“May I ask a question, Your Honor? I can’t read without my reading glasses…they don’t require a prescription, just 1.5x magnification or something like that.

“I am aware of everything I can hear and thanks to you I will now be informed of everything I can read,” he said.

He later asked for a definition of “penniless” after the judge ruled he was unlikely to be “penniless” enough to receive a public defender.

He had filed financial documents showing his home and ranch as collateral. How much they are worth is unclear.

“Your Honor, may I ask you a question?”

Kelly spoke briefly with his wife in court on February 2. He told the judge he has not been able to speak to her or “anyone” since his arrest on January 30

“You used the word needy, would you please give me your definition of needy?

“Someone doesn’t make a certain amount – someone who doesn’t make more than $20,000 a year.

“That is more than correct. I see,’ he said.

It’s unclear if he believed it was true that he was making less than $25,000 a year or that his records were incomplete.

At the end of the hearing, Kelly said, “Your Honor, may I ask one more question in due course?”

“One moment please,” said Justice of the Peace Emilio Velazquez.

George Alan Kelly, 73, is being held on a $1 million bond. He asked a judge to lower the amount and let him go home to help his elderly wife raise cattle

After waiting for the judge to be ready, Kelly pleaded, “I noticed that my wife was present in court when I walked in. May I ask you to make an appointment for an audiovisual conference?

“I wasn’t able to speak to her or anyone.”

The judge replied: “This needs to be discussed with the detention center below. If your wife wants to speak to you, she can go to the sheriff’s office.”

Kelly said sparingly, “I appreciate you giving that direction.”

Kelly’s bail was set at a whopping $1 million. Before that, he asked the judge to lower it, saying he had to take care of his elderly wife and her livestock.

“She’s there alone… no one to take care of her, the cattle, or the ranch. And I’m not going anywhere. I can’t raise a million dollars.

“Would you consider reducing it to a degree?” he pleaded.

The judge instead refused to tell him his attorney needed to file a motion — which she didn’t do.