Weapons Stolen From Worcester Armory Are Being Recovered — No Terrorist Link Established Yet


Weapons that were stolen from Worcester armory are slowly being recovered. While a few of the weapons were found by a homeless man, the FBI recovered a few more after arresting a suspect involved in the theft.

Three of the 16 weapons stolen from a U.S. Army Reserve center in Worcester were found by a homeless man in a park across from Yankee Stadium on Friday morning, reported Boston. The 51-year-old homeless man came across the high-powered weapons while he was collecting bottles and cans at Mullaly Park near Yankee Stadium. The weapons were haphazardly stored in a duffle bag. When the homeless man opened the bag and realized it contained weapons, he contacted police, who rushed to the spot and recovered three weapons.

Among the weapons the homeless man stumbled across were one semi-automatic assault rifle and two handguns. The FBI later confirmed that the three weapons were indeed among the 16 weapons, including six M-4 rifles and 10 Sig Sauer M11 9mm pistols, stolen just after midnight last Sunday from the Lincoln W. Stoddard Army Reserve Center, reported New York Post.

Weapons Stolen From Worcester Armory Are Being Recovered
[Image via Google Maps Street View]
Interestingly, the FBI also managed to recover more weapons that were stolen in a daring heist at Worcester armory. In all, 9 of the 16 weapons are now back, confirmed an FBI spokeswoman.

“As of right now, five of the six M-4 assault rifles and four of the ten M-11 pistols (Sig Sauer, 9MM) are back in the hands of law enforcement.”

FBI hasn’t revealed how it recovered the weapons, but the serial numbers of all the weapons match the list. Unfortunately, there is still no word on what happened to the 13 other weapons. While they are Army weapons and hence can’t be sold legally, according to a federal complaint about the weapons, the street value of the high-powered handguns and assault rifles could be more than $1,000. However, experts feel it would be very difficult to sell these weapons.

As the Inquisitr had earlier reported, all weapons are mandated to have serial numbers. These serial numbers have already been entered into the national database that keeps a centralized record of all stolen or missing weapons, which is available to any member of the federal, state, and local police. Now that some of the weapons have been recovered, the FBI has some concrete evidence to investigate and locate the remaining stolen weapons, said the spokeswoman.

“The FBI is working aggressively, along with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners across the region, to recover the remaining seven weapons.”

In fact, the police do have a suspect in custody. James Walker Morales, 34, was arrested in connection to the weapons theft. The U.S. attorney’s office in Massachusetts has charged James Walter Morales with robbing the armory, reported Gosport Times. He is a former Army reservist. The investigators were able to connect Morales to the theft using a combination of DNA evidence gathered at the scene and surveillance footage of the suspect and his vehicle.

Weapons Stolen From Worcester Armory Are Being Recovered
[Photo by Somerville Police]
But what really sealed the fate of Morales and confirmed he was the thief who stole the weapons from Worcester armory was the fact that he was wearing a court-ordered monitoring bracelet. Morales has been charged earlier with child rape and has to wear an ankle bracelet that is connected to a Global Positioning System (GPS), which is able to pinpoint his location. The non-removable bracelet indicated Morales was inside the Worcester compound at the time of the burglary.

Though Morales may come across as rather naïve to rob an Army armory while wearing a monitoring bracelet, he did manage to successfully break into the highly secured Worcester army reserve facility by entering through a kitchen window, and then cutting through the ceiling to get into the armory and steal 16 weapons.

The FBI has maintained that the weapons stolen from the Worcester armory aren’t connected to terrorism.

[Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images]

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