Fugitive accused of stealing weapons from military facility to be transferred back to Massachusetts, Feds say

A federal judge Friday ordered a fugitive captured in Westbury to be transferred back to Massachusetts to face charges of stealing weapons from a military facility.

Magistrate Judge Steven I. Locke deemed James W. Morales, 34, a flight risk and a danger to the community and ordered him held after a hearing in a Central Islip courtroom, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Morales is suspected of being involved in the theft of six M4 rifles and 10 Sig Sauer M11 9-mm pistols on Nov. 14 from a gun vault at a U.S. Army facility Worcester, Massachusetts.

The theft occurred a day after the terror attacks in Paris but Assistant U.S. Attorney Burton Ryan said Friday after the hearing authorities have ruled out that Morales planned to use the guns for terrorist activities.

A power saw and pry bar were used to cut through several layers of metal and wood on the roof of the gun vault, court papers said.

Morales' DNA was later found on the vault's walls, the papers said. Officials also knew Morales was in the facility at the time of the theft because he was out on bail on charges of child rape and indecent assault on a child under 14 years old, and was wearing a court-ordered monitoring bracelet, according to the papers.

Authorities issued the fugitive warrant after Morales cut off the bracelet, court papers said. Authorities continued tracking him with the GPS of a car he rented in Massachusetts, said an official with knowledge of the investigation.

Morales was arrested Wednesday in a Westbury store parking lot. He faces charges of unlawful possession of a machine gun, unlawful possession of stolen firearms and theft of government property.

It was not immediately known if the weapons were recovered.