Crime & Safety

Man Arrested on Bomb Threat Charges Had Cupertino Connections

Everett Basham, 45, told neighbors he sold Internet services to Montebello Road residents. Basham was arrested for possessing illegal bomb-making chemicals and threatening State Sen. Leland Yee.

A man who was arrested after police found a cache of bomb-making material in his Santa Clara home was described as “brilliant” by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and as “weird” by neighbors.

Among the charges Everett Basham, 45, was arrested for Tuesday night include threatening a public official, possessing an explosive, illegal possession of chemicals used to make explosives and having an illegally loaded firearm in his truck, reports said.

Basham is accused of making death threats against State Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) whose legislative proposals aim to end gun violence.

Find out what's happening in Cupertinowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to SFGate: "The threat was unlike any other I ever received," Yee said at a press conference, two days after a 45-year-old Santa Clara man was arrested on suspicion of threatening a public official and other crimes. "It was a rather deliberate and specific set of behaviors that he was going to engage in to accomplish his particular goal."

Adam Keigwin, Chief of Staff to State Senator Leland Yee told SFWeekly a threatening e-mail sent by Basham wasn’t just ‘racist ranting’ Yee's office has received before. "This one was not a rant, it didn't reference his ethnicity, it was methodical and very explicit on what he wanted to do to the senator," Keigwin told SFWeekly. "And referenced his reason for doing it was because [Yee] was pushing assault weapon legislation and said if the senator continued to push it, he would assassinate him and described how he would do that and the training he had to do it, and the weapons he had to carry it out."

Find out what's happening in Cupertinowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Next-door neighbor Phillip Jamison told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was stunned by the threat allegations.

"I've never had a political discussion with (Basham) whatsoever. Our discussions were generally over the fence - 'Hi, how are you doing? OK. Bye.'

"So, normal? No," Jamison said in the Chron article. "Really weird? Yes. Unhinged? No. He wasn't ever pacing back and forth in the yard."

Basham was arrested at a relative’s home in Sunnyvale and his Santa Clara neighbors were evacuated while police searched his property, which proved to be difficult because of extreme clutter inside blocking the entry, according to a report on CBSLocal.com

“We’re just trying to get through it safely,” said Sean Kennedy, spokesman for the CHP’s Protective Services Division. “After finding the chemicals, it makes you really nervous.”

Several antennas cover the roof of his home on the 3100 block of Humbolt Ave. along with satellite dishes and security cameras.

Neighbors said Basham was partial to wearing camouflage clothing, and Jamison said he tried to steer clear of Basham as best as possible.

“(He’s) a quiet guy that we always thought someday we’d see on TV. That was the inside joke. His house was clearly not the best-kept house in the neighborhood. The antennas and all that stuff always bothered people,” Jamison told the Chron.

The Chron further reports that Basham claimed to use the antennas to sell Internet services to residents of Montebello Road in Cupertino.

Reports say that Basham worked for Wozniak at woz.com about a decade ago, and also had worked for Hewlett-Packard and Logitech.

"He's not the sort of person who is a criminal or a terrorist," Wozniak told the Chron. "He's just very brilliant."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.