On Sunday, the New York Police Department said a homeless man found weapons that had been stolen from an Army facility in Massachusetts.
While he was walking through a park near Yankee Stadium, the man discovered a garbage bag that contained an M-4 semiautomatic rifle and two SIG Sauer 9mm handguns.
According to NBC New York, the man took the bag to the police, who said the weapons were part of a cache stolen from the armory of an Army Reserve Center in Massachusetts.
Police officials said they have retrieved six of the 16 guns stolen from the Army Reserve Center, but they didn’t reveal where or how they located the guns.
James Morales, a 34-year-old former Army reservist, was arrested for stealing the weapons.
According to the FBI, a surveillance video from the day the guns were stolen shows Morales going back and forth from his car to the armory with duffel bags for six hours.
The police officials said they were able to tie Morales to the crime through blood drops that were at the scene. The blood was tested and matched Morales’s DNA.
Morales was also wearing an electronic monitoring device as a condition of his release on pending charges of child rape.
According to the spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in New York, Morales waived identity and probable cause hearings during his appearance in court on Friday.
Morales was charged with theft of government property, unlawful possession of stolen firearms, and unlawful possession of a machine gun.
His attorney couldn’t be reached for comment.
© 2015 Bright Mountain Media, Inc.
All rights reserved. The content of this webpage may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written consent of Bright Mountain Media, Inc. which may be contacted at media@brightmountainmedia.com
Soldier suspended from school after defending military in public
Airman charged with theft after undercover ATF investigation