Crime & Safety
2 Involved With Guns Stolen from Worcester Armory Face Sentencing
Two who helped sell guns that were stolen from the U.S. Armory Reserve in Worcester pleaded guilty.
WORCESTER, MA — Two pleaded guilty on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Worcester in connection with the sale of machine guns and handguns stolen from the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Worcester.
Tyrone James, 29, and Ashlee Bigsbee, 27, of Dorchester, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess, store and sell stolen firearms; the possession and sale of stolen firearms; and lying to federal agents. James also pleaded guilty to being a convicted felon in possession of firearms, according to an announcement from the U.S. attorney.
James’s sentencing is scheduled for March 16, 2017, and Bigsbee’s sentencing for March 15, 2017.
On the night of Nov. 14, 2015, co-defendant James Morales broke into a weapons vault inside the Lincoln Stoddard United States Army Reserve Center on Lake Avenue North in Worcester and stole six M-4 Carbines and ten M-11 handguns.
On Nov. 18, 2015, Morales was located and arrested in Long Island, N.Y. Inside Morales’ vehicle, agents found four of the stolen M-4 Carbines and two of the stolen M-11 handguns. A fifth M-4 Carbine and two handguns were later turned in to the New York City Police Department by a concerned citizen.
Morales told officers that Bigsbee and her boyfriend, who was later identified as James, had assisted him in selling the weapons.
Prior to traveling to New York, on the morning following the robbery, Morales visited Bigsbee and James at their home in Dorchester and he asked them assist him with selling a number of the weapons he had stolen the night before, said the announcement. Bigsbee and James agreed.
Bigsbee and James texted numerous people offering to sell the firearms for well below the market and street value. Later, investigators found on both of their phones text evidence of these efforts, along with photos of the stolen weapons on a kitchen table in their Dorchester apartment, Bigsbee holding one of the stolen M-11s, and two of the stolen M-11 handguns lying on their bed.
Bigsbee and James arranged for Morales to sell a number of the handguns, and sold them out of their apartment on Nov. 15, 2015. In exchange for their assistance with selling the stolen weapons, Morales gave James and Bigsbee one of the M-4 Carbines, said the release. On the night of Nov. 15, 2015, or soon after, Bigsbee and/or James put the weapon in a duffle bag and brought it to the home of an acquaintance on Kingsdale Street in Dorchester who agreed to store the duffle bag.
During an interview on Nov. 20, 2015, Bigsbee and James lied to federal agents concerning their knowledge of the sale of the firearms. Following her arrest on Nov. 27, 2015, Bigsbee arranged to contact the acquaintance from Kingsdale Street asking him to leave the duffle bag outside on the sidewalk for police.
Bigsbee then directed agents to Kingsdale Street, where the final M-4 Carbine was recovered from a duffle bag on the sidewalk.
The M-4 Carbine is a military weapon capable of firing a three bullet “burst” for each single pull of the trigger, which makes them machine guns under federal law.
Photo via Shutterstock
