OXNARD : Trial Scheduled in Weapons Cache Case
A trial date was set Tuesday for Robert Thomas Ward of Oxnard, who was arrested last month after law enforcement officials announced the discovery of a cache of illegal automatic weapons and silencers in a Hollywood Beach condominium he was renting.
Ward, 45, was indicted Nov. 1 on two counts of possession of unregistered firearms. Meanwhile, the U.S. Secret Service has not officially closed its investigation.
The agency is inquiring into whether Ward made verbal threats against the life of President Bush in connection with the chief executive’s visit to the recent dedication of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library near Simi Valley.
However, a Secret Service official has said it appears remote that additional charges would be sought against Ward.
In a hearing before U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima in Los Angeles, Ward refused to state his name for the court record. He also denied that the name in the indictment--Robert Thomas Ward--was his true name, but he gave no reason for the denial.
Tashima set a trial date for Jan. 7.
If convicted, Ward faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a maximum fine of $250,000.
Ward is being held without bail at a federal prison facility in downtown Los Angeles.
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