GPS monitor ties rape suspect to stolen weapons cache, FBI says
BOSTON -- A GPS monitoring bracelet and DNA led to the arrest of a suspect in connection with the theft of 16 guns from a Massachusetts Army Reserve armory, the FBI announced Thursday.
James Walker Morales, 34, was arrested in New York on Wednesday, according to the FBI, after six M4 rifles and 10 Sig Sauer M11 handguns were stolen from the Lincoln Stoddard Army Reserve Center in Worcester over the weekend.
Morales was tied to the theft through blood left at the scene and through an electronic monitoring bracelet that he was wearing at the time because he is out on bail on a child rape charge. The bracelet places Morales "directly inside" the facility, the FBI said.
Morales had last been at the Worcester facility last Thursday to obtain copies of his discharge papers. The FBI did not provide any additional information on his service and did not say whether the guns had been recovered.
Surveillance video from a nearby business shows a man making several trips between a vehicle parked nearby and the reserve center over a period of several hours Saturday night into Sunday morning. On several occasions, he can be seen carrying duffel bags.
The theft was reported Sunday morning after someone gained access to the facility through a kitchen window, and then broke into the gun vault by climbing on top of it and cutting through several layers of metal and wood, according to the affidavit.
Morales faces 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. The FBI has said that the theft is not related to terrorism.