A court granted Andres Morales a bond during a detention hearing Thursday afternoon, records show.
Morales, 42, currently works as chief of staff for the city of Peñitas.
During a brief hearing Thursday afternoon, federal Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker set Morales’ bond at $75,000, court notes show. Morales will remain in custody pending the posting of the bond.
Morales was arrested Tuesday after a criminal complaint was filed in an ongoing investigation alleging the city employee had lied on at least two occasions when he stated on a federal form that he had not been previously convicted of a felony when he purchased rifles in 2017 — despite being previously convicted on two occasions.
The Mission man, who appeared via videoconference for his detention hearing, is accused of making “materially false statements” when he purchased two rifles in January and July of 2017.
“On each occasion in connection with the purchase of said firearms, Morales answered and indicated ‘no’ when asked “Have you ever been convicted in any court of a felony, or any other crime for which the judge could have imprisoned you for more than one year, even if you received a shorter sentence including probation,” the criminal complaint stated.
According to state court records, Morales was convicted in 2001 and 2006 on drug possession charges involving marijuana.
In 2006, he pleaded guilty to a second-degree felony charge for possessing more than 50 pounds but less than 2,000 pounds of marijuana in 2006.
In both cases, Morales received probation of four and five years, respectively, records show.
On Tuesday, Morales told federal agents “he was working on his pardon but never got it” in reference to his past convictions, according to the complaint.
The punishment range for a conviction of a firearm charge involving prohibitive persons carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in federal prison.
