GoFundMe boots campaign for Arizona rancher held on $1M bond for murder of migrant shot on property

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GoFundMe removed all campaigns set up to help an Arizona rancher held on a $1 million bond following the elderly man’s arrest for the murder of a migrant shot to death on his property.

Fox News Digital confirmed that GoFundMe removed multiple fundraisers set up to help 73-year-old George Alan Kelly.  

"GoFundMe’s Terms of Service explicitly prohibit campaigns that raise money to cover the legal defense of anyone formally charged with an alleged violent crime. Consistent with this long-standing policy, any fundraising campaigns for the legal defense of someone charged with murder are removed from our platform," a spokesperson for GoFundMe said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Donors who contributed to the fundraising campaigns for George Alan Kelly’s legal expenses have been fully refunded." 

An active fundraiser for Kelly remains on the Christian crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo. 

"Neighbors say that he had been having difficulty keeping invaders out and say that Mr. Kelly would have acted in good faith," the fundraiser's organizer, Shannon Pritchard, wrote. "It is a tragedy that a simple farmer, who should be protected by the government has been abandoned and had to defend himself."

MIGRANT SHOT DEAD BY ARIZONA RANCHER HELD ON $1M FOR MURDER CHARGE WAS DEPORTED SEVERAL TIMES BEFORE: REPORT

Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly, 73, is being held on $1 million bond by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office in Nogales. (Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Pritchard contended that holding Kelly on a $1 million bond is a "purely political" move. The campaign had raised more than $10,500 by midday Thursday. 

In a statement Thursday to Fox News Digital, GiveSendGo co-founder Heather Wilson wrote, "This is exactly why GiveSendGo exists. To allow people to have a voice and gain support in times of need. At this time [we] do not know any more than what is being shared on the news, but we do know that in our country a legal defense is not just for the wealthy. We will continue to allow the raising of funds for legal defense on GiveSendGo, as the presumption of innocent until proven guilty is a bedrock to our Justice system."

"We understand we are not the judge and jury; we will not take down campaigns based on own biases," Wilson added. "We will be praying for all involved."

GiveSendGo gained notoriety for allowing fundraisers to benefit Kyle Rittenhouse, as well as the so-called "Freedom Convoy" of truckers demonstrating against Canada’s COVID-19-related restrictions. 

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office announced Monday that Kelly had already been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection to the Jan. 30 shooting of a man authorities believe to be 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, based on the Mexican voter registration card he carried. The shooting took place on a cattle ranch Kelly operates with his wife near Nogales, Arizona, by the U.S.-Mexico border. 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said a caller from George Alan Kelly's ranch reported seeing a group of people running and did not know if he was being shot at hours before a migrant was found dead.  (John Moore/Getty Images)

At his initial court appearance on Jan. 31, Kelly pleaded with a judge to reduce his $1 million bond, saying his wife was left alone on their ranch unable to attend to livestock by herself, Nogales International reported. NewsNation reported that another hearing scheduled for Kelly on Wednesday was postponed until Feb. 22. 

"She's there by herself," Kelly reportedly said at the Jan. 31 hearing. "Nobody to take care of her, the livestock or the ranch. And I'm not going anywhere. I can't come up with a million dollars."'

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) referred Fox News Digital to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office for all inquiries related to this case. 

The sheriff’s office has not returned Fox News Digital's request for comment by publication Thursday. 

"Federal court records show Cuen-Butimea has had a history of illegal border crossings and deportations in and around Nogales, with the most recent documented case in 2016," the Daily Mail previously reported. 

The Mail has also reported that Santa Cruz Chief Deputy Gerardo Castillo declined to comment on Cuen-Butimea’s immigration status, claiming that it has not yet been confirmed. Castillo reportedly said investigators are still working to confirm the circumstances of the shooting as well as a potential motive, adding that it does not appear Kelly knew the victim.

Citing a dispatch report, Nogales International reported that the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office first received a call about 2:40 p.m. Jan. 30 from CBP agents relaying details of a "possible active shooter" in the area of Sagebrush Road. CBP said a caller, identified as "Allen," described a "group of people running" and said he was "unsure if he was getting shot at as well."

The U.S.-Mexico border fence stretches into the countryside near Nogales, Arizona, on March 8, 2013. (John Moore/Getty Images)

By about 5:50 p.m., sheriff’s deputies received another report about shots fired at the property. By 6:42 p.m., authorities recovered the body of a "deceased Hispanic male" and said he had no weapons on him at the time, Castillo told the outlet. Investigators reportedly collected two assault-style rifles from Kelly's property to determine if either was used in the shooting. 

Kelly’s neighbor, Maria Castillo, told KOLD News 13 that it is not unusual to see migrants crossing the border and entering town. Cuen-Butimea lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico.

A Twitter user by the name Paul Olson claims Kelly is his good friend, and that Kelly’s wife is staying at a friend’s home due to concerns for possible retaliation. 

Olson tweeted that Kelly had been shot at many times before during the roughly 20 years he’s operated the ranch by the border. Olson’s story was not immediately verified by Fox News Digital, and he did not immediately return a request for comment. 

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As details of the shooting incident remain under wraps, an opinion piece in the Arizona Republic made comparisons between Kelly’s case and the 2010 unsolved murder of Arizona rancher Robert Krentz. Krentz was shot and killed on March 27, 2010, by an intruder, and investigators reportedly tracked the footprints of the suspected murderer back to the U.S.-Mexico border. 

The case acted as a catalyst for the now infamous Senate Bill 1070, known as the "show me your papers" law, the newspaper reported. The Arizona Republic predicts Kelly's arrest over the shooting on his property could similarly become a "political powder keg."