Bomb Making Charges Filed Against Fremont Man

Press release from the Alameda County District Attorney's Office:

FREMONT, CA — Alameda County District Attorney Nancy E. O’Malley announces that charges have been filed against a man accused of being in possession of chemicals to make an explosive device, and causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to utility lines in Fremont.

Defendant Roshan Patel, 46, was first arrested by the Fremont Police Department in September after a vandalism investigation following cut telephone lines and fiber optic lines in residential neighborhoods. The cut wires resulted in outages to thousands of customers of AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Comcast/Infinity. He was charged by the District Attorney’s Office with four felony counts, including Penal Code 591, cutting a utility line and Penal Code 594(a) vandalism over $400 in damage.

During the course of the investigation, a search warrant was executed on Mr. Patel’s residence, where investigators found several chemicals that could be used to develop an explosive device.

The District Attorney’s Office worked collaboratively with Fremont Police and additional evidence was discovered on his computer and electronic devices including numerous searches for how to make bombs and explosive devices. The searches also included research on the location of cellphone towers.

The defendant has now further been charged with Penal Code 18720, possession of components of a destructive device.

He was arraigned on the new charge on October 20, 2022.

This press release was produced by the Alameda County District Attorney's Office. The views expressed here are the author’s own.