FRAMINGHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - As investigators continue to search for Massachusetts most-wanted fugitive James Morales, officials are warning Framingham residents to be alert.
The 35-year-old who managed to escape a detention facility in Rhode Island on New Year’s Eve has led officials to several locations in Massachusetts, most recently to Framingham where one woman said Morales knocked on her front door the night of his escape.
Former Army reservist James Morales escaped from the Wyatt Detention Facility on New Year’s Eve by climbing a basketball hoop to reach a rooftop, cutting through a fence and climbing through razor wire, according to authorities. Police believe Morales fled to Attleboro, Massachusetts, and stole a car that was found Sunday.
At a news conference Tuesday, Rhode Island U.S. Marshal Jamie Hainsworth would not discuss details of the search but said Morales is likely injured with lacerations and might require medical attention. He asked for the public’s help and said people should notify authorities if they come across him. Hainsworth is urging Morales to turn himself in.
“We know that he’s a dangerous individual,” Hainsworth said. “He may be armed.”
Morales is charged with stealing 16 guns from a U.S. Army Reserve Center and faces child rape charges in Massachusetts. State Police added him to their most wanted list Tuesday.
Hainsworth also said while his immediate priority is to find Morales, they’re going to take a “hard look” at the Wyatt Detention Facility, which is privately run. Two officers at the detention center where Morales escaped from have been placed on administrative duty.
Officials issued a robocall, or automated phone call warning, to residents who live in the Framingham neighborhood where one woman spoke to the fugitive.
Venessa Lugo said she encountered Morales when he knocked on her door in Framingham at 10:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, just hours after his escape.
“He didn’t say anything, he just banged really loudly, like ‘boom, boom, boom’,” Lugo said.
Lugo said she did not know who the man was when he arrived at her door, wearing gray sweatpants and a black-hooded sweatshirt. Morales visibly had no blood on him and was by himself, according to Lugo. She said the criminal appeared calm: “He was perfectly fine…no stress, no nothing.”
Sources tell 7News that the inmate’s ex-girlfriend lives upstairs from Lugo.
The witness said FBI investigators missed Morales by an hour, and it was only then she realized who she had spoken to.
“I’m very scared,” Lugo said, adding that she hopes the escapee will be caught soon. Lugo said she last saw Morales walking toward a Tedeschi convenience store.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact police.
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