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Cpl. Andrew Paul Amarillas pleaded not guilty last Thursday in
Phoenix to multiple charges including conspiracy to commit theft
and embezzlement of government property, and possession and sale
of stolen ammunition. A judge ordered him to be held in custody
pending trial.
A message was sent Monday seeking comment from an attorney for
Amarillas.
Federal prosecutors said Amarillas used his position as a
technical specialist at the School of Infantry West to steal at
least one Javelin missile system, thousands of rounds of
military-grade ammunition and other weapons-related material
between February 2022 and November 2025.
He's accused of transporting the stolen material to his home
state of Arizona, where he sold them to unnamed co-conspirators,
who then resold the equipment to others, prosecutors said. Some
but not all of the stolen weapons and ammo has been recovered.
A co-conspirator had a number for Amarillas saved in a cellphone
under the nickname “Andrew Ammo,” court documents said.
“(I) have 2 launchers that (I) think you’d like, if you want to
take a look tomorrow,” Amarillas texted to a co-conspirator in
August, according to the criminal complaint. The text messages
also included photos, including one of a portable Javelin
missile system with a serial number that matched one that
Amarillas had signed out from the military base near San Diego,
the complaint said.
Some of the ammunition was purchased from co-conspirators by
undercover officers, prosecutors said.
“The objects of the conspiracy were to steal property and
ammunition from the U.S. military and sell stolen U.S. military
property and ammunition to others to earn money,” said the
complaint filed in U.S. District Court for Arizona.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service declined to comment on
the Amarillas case, but said the investigation is ongoing.
“NCIS and our partners remain committed to thoroughly and
aggressively investigating any allegation involving the theft of
military weapons and munitions to be sold on the black market,”
Acting Deputy Assistant Director Jeff Houston said in an email
on Monday.
In 2021, explosives went missing from the Marine Corps Air
Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms in the Southern
California desert. NCIS said at the time it was investigating
the disappearance of explosives, but declined to provide
details.
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Associated Press journalist Jacques Billard in Phoenix
contributed to this report.
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