Sixteen weapons, including assault rifles and pistols, were stolen from the Lincoln Stoddard Army Reserve Center in Worcester.
A former Army reservist facing child rape charges was arrested in connection to the theft of more than a dozen military weapons from a Massachusetts armory.
James Walker Morales, who was allegedly wearing a monitoring bracelet at the time of the theft, was arrested in New York on Wednesday by Nassau County Police and the FBI on state and federal warrants.
On Sunday, U.S. Army personnel reported 16 weapons, including assault rifles and pistols, had been stolen from the Lincoln Stoddard Army Reserve Center in Worcester, according to an FBI affidavit.
Officials discovered someone had smashed a window in the nearby kitchen and made a hole in the metal and rood ceiling of the shipping container-sized gun vault. They believe the damage was carried out with a power saw and pry bar, the affidavit said.
Read: Military Weapons Stolen from Massachusetts Armory After Overnight Break-In: Report
Six M-4 assault rifles and 10 9-mm handguns were stolen from the vault. It was not immediately clear if the weapons were recovered.
Morales allegedly spent more than five hours in and near the armory that night, making several trips with duffel bags to and from a vehicle and leaving four “reddish brown stains” in and around the vault, the affidavit said.
Investigators claimed DNA from those stains matched that of 34-year-old Morales. Morales, from Cambridge, was charged in May with child rape and indecent assault on a child under 14 years old and had since been required to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.
Read: Female Suicide Bomber Pictured as Her 'Ringleader' Cousin is Confirmed Dead
He was later discharged from the Army Reserve and went to the Reserve Center on November 12—two days before it was robbed—to obtain copies of the discharge papers, the affidavit said.
Investigators believe Morales cut off the monitoring bracelet the day after the burglary, when a default warrant was issued for his arrest. A review of the bracelet’s location data showed Morales was at the armory from approximately 6:40 p.m. Saturday until 12:08 a.m. Sunday, the court document said.
“At several times during the intervening period, the bracelet places Morales directly inside the North Lake Street U.S. Army Facility from which the weapons were stolen,” the affidavit said.
Morales was charged with unlawful possession of a machine gun, unlawful possession of stolen firearms and theft of government property. Information for his attorney was not immediately clear.
Read: Deer Breaks Into School Then Slips and Slides On Newly Waxed Floors
