Pot Factory Found In Home After Threat To Clinton Traced

Two District of Columbia men were arrested Sunday after one of them threatened to kill President Clinton and agents traced the telephone call to a house where marijuana was being grown, federal authorities said.

U.S. Secret Service spokesman Dave Adams said Barry Douglas Oliver, 44, and the owner of the house, James Rapp, were arrested on drug manufacturing charges after agents traced Oliver’s threatening call. Oliver also was charged with threatening the president’s life.

Both are to be arraigned today.

Authorities said they found more than 200 marijuana plants of various sizes growing in every area of the house, including on the roof.

The house was a sophisticated one-stop-shopping drug operation, where psychedelic mushrooms and marijuana seedlings were cultivated, dried and packaged, according to Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Pete Gruden. Hydroponics equipment for growing plants in water also was discovered, he said.

WRC-TV said Oliver was tape-recorded saying he had “a score to settle with President Clinton” and that he planned to “cut him from ear to ear.”

No changes were made in the president’s itinerary Sunday in the wake of the threat.