Man Held in Possible Plot Against Bush : Security: The Secret Service received a tip that the suspect told others he was planning to shoot the President at the Reagan Library ceremonies.

An Oxnard man arrested Sunday with a stockpile of automatic weapons in his apartment is being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service after authorities received a tip that he told people he was planning to shoot President Bush at the Nov. 4 dedication ceremony for the Ronald Reagan Library.

The suspect, Thomas Robert Ward, 45, told a police informant he had recently scouted the hilly terrain surrounding the Simi Valley library site searching for a spot where he could fire a clean shot at Bush, law enforcement sources said.

Authorities said they found a cache of 12 fully automatic weapons--including an Uzi submachine gun and AK-47 assault rifles--handguns and approximately 27,000 rounds of ammunition, when Ward was arrested at his home.

Douglas J. Carver, a U.S. Secret Service agent in charge of coordinating security for the library ceremony, said that Ward initially “denied ever making the (assassination) remarks.”

During interrogation on Sunday at the Ventura County Jail, however, Ward declared that if he did make threats against Bush, “he regretted making the statements,” Carver said.

Ward is being held at the Terminal Island federal prison and has been booked for investigation of possession of unregistered firearms, arraigned before a U.S. magistrate in Los Angeles and held without bail.

Ward has not been booked in connection with the alleged threats because the Secret Service investigation is continuing. Under federal law, it is a felony to make verbal threats against a President. If convicted, the penalty is a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Neither Ward, who is in custody, nor any family members could be immediately reached for comment. It was unclear if an attorney has been appointed in the case.

Carver, in charge of the Secret Service’s Santa Barbara office, said that Ward may have “shown some interest in harming President Bush” as long as four months ago. He did not elaborate except to say that “it is difficult to check” this information.

Carver said “it is routine for the Secret Service to hear about threats against the President in the days or weeks before a well-publicized event.”

“That happens simply because of the press coverage. There is such a buildup. It puts a thought in their minds.”

Still, Carver said of Ward: “We take these threats very seriously.”

Former Presidents Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon and, possibly, Jimmy Carter, along with many other dignitaries, will be present for the dedication of the $57-million library complex. If so, it would be the first meeting in history of five U.S. Presidents.

Neighbors described Ward, a bachelor, as a loner virtually without friends.

A law enforcement source said Ward told an informant that he “had conducted surveillance of the area around the Reagan Library and expressed frustration over locating a vantage point free from obstructions where he could get a shot at the President.

And a neighbor, Samantha Waltz, 24, said Ward recently confided to her and her husband that he was considering killing Bush.

“He said he wanted to assassinate President Bush,” she said, adding that the couple notified authorities of the alleged threat.

Waltz said that Ward told her he was a real estate broker by profession.

Federal and local law enforcement officials said Tuesday the only one prior arrest for Ward they knew of was for drunk driving.

Ward was arrested Sunday morning, without incident, after approximately 18 hours of surveillance. The cache of weapons was confiscated.

“It’s scary,” said Vince France, a sheriff’s division commander who supervises major crime investigations, reflecting on the fast-approaching date of the library dedication. “Here, you’ve got a guy with automatic weapons. We don’t even know if he has associates.”

Times staff writer Kenneth R. Weiss and correspondent Patrick McCartney contributed to this story.