Cops: R.I. fugitive James Morales captured after New Year's Eve escape
SOMERVILLE, Mass. — Police say they have captured a fugitive who escaped from a Rhode Island correctional facility on New Year’s Eve, reports CBS Boston.
James Morales, 35, who was on the run since he escaped Wyatt Correctional Facility, was captured in the Boston suburb of Somerville Thursday afternoon, Massachusetts State Police said.
State Police said earlier Thursday that Morales was “probably” the same person who robbed a Bank of America in Cambridge’s Central Square Thursday morning.
The Bank of America in Central Square was robbed at 7:27 a.m., Cambridge Police said. They said a note was passed, but the suspect did not get away with any money.
The robbery suspect was described as a black man about 5’10” with a mustache, who was wearing a black jacket, gray sweatshirt, black knit cap, and black sneakers, matching Morales’ description.
Hours after the attempted robbery, police searched several locations in Cambridge near the Alewife MBTA stop Thursday afternoon after a possible sighting of Morales, according to the station.
The search reportedly utilized K-9 units, and included marshy areas near the T stop.
Morales escaped from Wyatt Correctional Facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island around 7 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, though he wasn’t discovered missing until around 10:30 p.m. Two correctional officers have been placed on paid leave pending an investigation into the incident, the facility’s warden, Daniel Martin, said.
Warden Martin said Morales climbed onto the top of a basketball hoop in the facility’s recreation yard, used a tool to cut through fencing, climbed onto the prison’s roof, and went through several layers of razor wire to get to a place where he could climb down the side of the building.
Police say he then followed nearby train tracks to Attleboro, Massachusetts, where they said he stole a car from a store parking lot and ditched it in Framingham.
The car police said Morales stole was reportedly found in Framingham with blood, trash, and clothing inside, and with the Rhode Island plates replaced with Massachusetts ones taken from an apartment complex along Route 9.
CBS Boston reports that on Saturday night, Framingham resident Vanessa Lugo said Morales showed up at her back door on New Year’s Eve, hours after he broke free from prison. She didn’t know who he was and didn’t answer the door, later learning he was likely looking for the woman who lives upstairs.
Before being imprisoned at the Rhode Island facility, Morales was facing charges that he raped an 8-year-old girl in Cambridge.
While out on bail on that charge, the FBI says, he stole 10 assault rifles and six handguns from a Worcester armory in 2015.
