A U.S. Marine who was an ammunition specialist at California’s Camp Pendleton is charged with stealing ammo and weapons, including a shoulder-fired missile system, and conspiring to sell them in Arizona, according to court documents.
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.
Messages were sent Monday seeking comment from an attorney for Amarillas and officials at Camp Pendleton.
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.
In 2021, explosives went missing from the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms in the Southern California desert. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service said at the time it was investigating the disappearance of explosives, but declined to provide details.
___
Associated Press journalist Jacques Billard in Phoenix contributed to this report.
