Weapons Found in Truck; Man Arrested

An Oxnard man who served time in federal prison on weapons convictions has been arrested after he was found living in a parked truck that contained a cache of guns and ammunition, authorities said Tuesday.

Thomas Ward, 52, was jailed without bail after his arrest Monday morning in a gated community in the 2900 block of Solimar Beach Road, Ventura County Sheriff’s Det. Bill Stevens said.

Inside his truck, deputies found several guns, including two assault rifles, and several hundred bullets, Stevens said. A search Monday night of two sites in Oxnard also turned up destructive devices allegedly belonging to Ward.

“There were other items to indicate the individual may be involved in survivalist activities,” Stevens said. He refused to identify the items except to say that literature was found inside the truck.

Deputies were alerted to the situation by a resident who said Ward had been parked in the neighborhood for about two weeks. Ward said he has a brother who lives in the area but deputies have been unable to confirm that.

At the time of his arrest, Ward’s truck bore a homemade foreign license plate and he gave deputies a fake international driver’s license.

Ward was being held on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm and on a warrant for failing to appear in court in an earlier drunk driving case, a jail deputy said.

Ward is scheduled for arraignment today.