Man taken into custody near Westbury movie theater was fugitive wanted for weapons theft in Massachusetts, officials say

A fugitive captured in Westbury faces extradition to Massachusetts Friday to face charges that he was involved in the theft of 16 weapons, including six automatic rifles, from a U.S. Army facility in Worcester.

The theft occurred a day after the terror attacks in Paris, but officials quickly ruled out any links to terrorism.

James W. Morales, 34, was scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Central Islip after his arrest late Wednesday on the fugitive warrant.

A court affidavit in the Worcester case said officials knew Morales was in the Army facility at the time of the theft because he was out on bail on another case and was wearing his court-ordered monitoring bracelet.

He was arrested without incident in Westbury near the United Artists Westbury Stadium 12 theater complex Wednesday night, officials said. At about the same time, there was a disturbance reported at one of the theaters -- showing "The Hunger Games -- Mockingjay Part 2" -- and police ordered everyone out and conducted a search, officials said. The incidents were determined to be not related, police said.

Officials at the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Worcester reported on Sunday that a gun-vault alarm had tripped the night before and six M4 rifles and 10 Sig Sauer M11 9-mm pistols were missing, a court affidavit in the case said. The rifles had toggle switches that allowed them to be fired single-shot or in three-round bursts, making them automatic weapons under the law. It wasn't immediately known if the weapons have been recovered.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker reacted with alarm to the theft, saying at the time, "I'm just concerned by the fact that some really high-caliber weapons were stolen from a military facility."

The thief or thieves broke a window to enter the kitchen area of the facility, then used a power saw and pry bar to cut through several layers of metal and wood on the roof the vault, the affidavit said.

Investigators took DNA swabs of a reddish-brown material from the interior of the gun vault walls and matched it to the DNA of Morales, who had been at the facility on Nov. 12 to get a copy of his Army discharge papers, according to the affidavit.

He is facing charges of unlawful possession of a machine gun, unlawful possession of stolen firearms and theft of government property, authorities said.