BOSTON (AP) — A former Army reservist out on bail on a child rape charge broke into a Massachusetts armory last weekend and stole 16 guns, the FBI said Thursday, and he got caught because he was wearing a GPS monitoring bracelet.
James Walker Morales, 34, of Cambridge, was arrested Wednesday on Long Island, New York. He’s scheduled to make an appearance in federal court on Friday, according to the FBI.
Six M4 assault rifles and 10 Sig Sauer M11 handguns were stolen from the Lincoln Stoddard Army Reserve Center in Worcester last weekend. Surveillance video from a nearby business shows a man making several trips between the reserve center and a vehicle parked nearby over a six-hour period Saturday night into Sunday morning. On several occasions, he can be seen carrying duffel bags.
The FBI has said that the theft is not related to terrorism, but officials did not disclose a possible motive.
Morales gained access to the facility through a kitchen window, and then broke into the gun vault by climbing on top of it and using a cutting tool and pry bar to get through several layers of metal and wood, the FBI affidavit says.
The electronic monitoring bracelet placed Morales “directly inside” the facility, and blood left at the scene matched his DNA, the FBI said. He cut off the bracelet Monday but was tracked to New York through his cellphones, authorities said.
Morales had last been seen at the Worcester facility last Thursday to obtain copies of his discharge papers. Federal authorities described him as a former Army reservist but did not provide any additional information on his service and did not say whether the guns had been recovered.
In May, Morales was charged with aggravated rape of a child and indecent assault and battery on a person under age 14, according to Allison Brown, assistant district attorney in Middlesex County. The circumstances of that case were not immediately available.
Morales now also faces federal charges of unlawful possession of a machine gun, unlawful possession of stolen firearms, and theft of government property. It could not immediately be determined if he has a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.
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This story has been corrected to include the full name of the reserve facility.
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My question is, how the hell could he break into the Massachusetts armory so easily? He was caught because of GPS bracelet, that he cut himself, and surveillance video from nearby stores? Hell of a security system you have there! I guess it’s no a big deal, the building only houses military weaponry.
It’s a good thing we’re keeping Syrian refugees out, they could acquire guns and… Oh never mind.
Short for, “just not into that that diligent reporter stuff anymore.”
" Thy weren’t sure of a motive.
What the hell I’ll tell you the motive. He was going to sell them for cash at a gun show at some fair ground. Thats what he was going to do.
But was he Syrian?
No self-respecting Syrian refugee would screw up a heist this badly.