Residents warned that escaped inmate might have been spotted

Police sent an automated call to residents telling them not to approach James Morales if spotted in town

January 04, 2017 10:16 AM

This undated photo provided by the U.S. Department of Justice shows James Morales. A round-the-clock state and federal manhunt is underway Monday, Jan. 2, 2017, for Morales, an inmate who escaped from a Rhode Island detention center.

Associated Press

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Residents of a Massachusetts town have been warned by police that an escaped federal prisoner might have been spotted in town.

Framingham police on Tuesday night sent an automated call to residents telling them not to approach 35-year-old James Morales.

Morales is charged with stealing 16 guns from a U.S. Army Reserve Center in Worcester and faces child rape charges in Massachusetts.

Authorities say the former Army reservist escaped from the Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island on New Year’s Eve by climbing a basketball hoop to reach a rooftop, cutting through a fence and climbing through razor wire. Police think Morales stole a car in Attleboro, Massachusetts, which was found Sunday in Framingham.

A U.S. marshal in Rhode Island said Wednesday there were no updates on the search.