A rather strange story appeared in the Boston Globe on Thursday.    Thomas K Morse, a Newton resident checked into the W hotel in Boston carrying big bags and a guitar case and requested a room on an upper floor.  A member of the hotel staff spotted something that led him to believe that there were guns in the guitar case.

The hotel alerted authorities and Boston Police and federal agent arrived but they didn’t have probable cause to search the room.  They knocked on the door and spoke to Mr. Morse and spotted two large duffel bags.  They asked if he had a guitar with them and Morse denied it.

The hotel cancelled his stay and Morse left the hotel without any bags.  Once gone, police searched the room and found an AR-15 rifle with a mounted scope, a semi-automatic rifle, and a loaded .45 caliber handgun, as well as two large-capacity magazines and more than 50 rounds of ammunition.  Based on the arsenal in the hotel room, authorities issued an arrest warrant and he was picked up Monday in the North End.

He has pled not guilty but he is being held without bail, pending a dangerousness hearing.  His lawyer argued that while Morse has a 22-page criminal history, none of those cases involve charges of violence.   Morse also faces illegal drug possession charges stemming from an arrest in Newton in May 2020.