Page 2 - January 2017

Colonel’s

Message

Greetings and happy New Year!

We are just a few weeks into 2017, and it has already been an eventful year for members of the French and
Electric Blue. It truly is remarkable how many critical and large-scale incidents our department responds to and
handles on a routine basis – so much so, that it’s worth a recap of how we began our year.

Actually, the new year had not even begun yet when events were set in motion for our first critical incident. On
New Year’s Eve, federal inmate James Morales escaped from the Wyatt Detention Center in Rhode Island. At
the time of his escape, Morales was the subject of pending federal charges for the theft of numerous firearms
from the armory in Worcester two years ago. MSP K9 Trooper Tim Blackwell and his dog Klaas did a great job
picking up Morales’ track in Attleboro and located bloody prison clothing that the fugitive had discarded on the
side of Route 95.

Over the next few days MSP personnel played a leading role in a massive manhunt for Morales that involved
our Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section and members of other units and sections. Working with the US Mar-
shals and law enforcement agencies in Rhode Island, we developed critical intelligence reinforcing our belief
that Morales was probably still in Massachusetts.

On the morning of Thursday, Jan. 5, our investigators and our federal and local partners responded to an
attempted bank robbery in Cambridge by a suspect who strongly resembled Morales. The manhunt focused
like a laser on the Cambridge area. That same afternoon, as troopers and police officers were still maintaining
a heavy presence in the area, word came in of another attempted bank robbery in Somerville. That suspect
matched the description of Morales and the Cambridge suspect.

Trooper Joseph Merrick of the Troop A Community Action Team was responding into Somerville when he saw
a man walking near the robbery scene who matched the description. Trooper Merrick pulled up to the man in
his cruiser, and the man dropped a motorcycle helmet he was carrying and immediately began running away.
Trooper Merrick followed in foot pursuit, through a residential neighborhood where he saw the suspect try
to hide under a porch, over a fence, and up to a second fence. As the suspect tried to scale the second fence,
Trooper Merrick pulled him to the ground and, with the assistance of Trooper Brendan Cain of the Troop A
CAT, placed him into custody and positively identified him as Morales. Thus the nearly weeklong manhunt was
brought to a close, to the relief of the public at large, which had been following every development in the case
through heavy media coverage. Sgt. Steve Racki of Station A-4 and two Somerville Police detectives also assist-
ed at the scene.

Many members of our department did superb work on the Morales search, including VFAS, the Troop A mem-
bers, and others who assisted -- A great team effort that led to a successful and safe resolution.

Just a few days went by before our job was called upon again for one of those incidents to which we can re-
spond so quickly and effectively. On the afternoon of Monday, Jan. 9, inmates at the Sousa-Baranowski Correc-
tional Center in Shirley began a disturbance that grew and persisted as the afternoon wore on into the eve-
ning. By early evening, it was clear that MSP was needed to back up the DOC officers at the prison.

French·and·Electric·Blue·January·2017·page·2