'Barefoot Bandit' faces new charges over plane theft
SEATTLE (AP) - The "Barefoot Bandit," who led police on a two-year, cross-country crime spree in stolen boats, cars and planes, is facing new charges in Washington state.
Colton Harris-Moore is already serving a seven-year prison term after pleading guilty to state and federal crimes, but Skagit County Prosecutor Rich Weyrich filed theft and burglary charges this month against the 21-year-old, accusing him of stealing an Anacortes couple's plane in 2010 and flying it to the airport on Orcas Island, 10 miles away.
Harris-Moore had been a headache for local law enforcement in Western Washington since boyhood, and by his late teens had taken to joyriding in airplanes as a self-taught pilot. He earned his moniker by committing some of his crimes without shoes.
In 2010, he hopscotched across Oregon, Idaho, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois in stolen cars. He stole a plane in Indiana, crash-landed off an island in the Bahamas, and was arrested when police shot out the engine of a boat he took.
He sold the rights to his story to 20th Century Fox, with the proceeds going to repay the nearly $1.4 million he owes his victims.
Weyrich declined to join other Washington prosecutors in the plea deal filed in Island County Superior Court to resolve state charges against Harris-Moore.
"The crime was committed in Skagit County," Weyrich said Wednesday.
The Skagit County prosecutor previously charged Harris-Moore, but dropped the accusations in 2011 to clear the way for the Island County plea deal. The charges were refiled on Feb. 8, and Harris-Moore will be transported from the Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen to Skagit County to face them.
Prosecutors are seeking an exceptional sentence against Harris-Moore, which would authorize the judge to impose a sentence above the standard range for the crimes. The charges carry a maximum of 10 years in prison. If he is convicted, some of the sentence could run at the same time as the one he's already serving.
Harris-Moore's attorney, John Henry Browne, did not learn of the new charges until Wednesday, when Harris-Moore called the office to say he'd been served with an arrest warrant from Skagit County.
"All the other prosecutors tried to get Weyrich to come along with the plea deal," Browne said. "They all thought the sentence was fine, but I guess it's not OK with Mr. Weyrich. I thought Colton Harris-Moore was supposed to be the juvenile here."
Browne said that by declining to participate in the state plea deal, Weyrich had cut the Skagit County victims out of receiving restitution from any movie made about Harris-Moore. Weyrich said Wednesday he did not know whether that was true.
The Anacortes couple whose plane was stolen, Jeff and Linda Hendricks, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday. The plane sustained little damage.
Colton Harris-Moore is already serving a seven-year prison term after pleading guilty to state and federal crimes, but Skagit County Prosecutor Rich Weyrich filed theft and burglary charges this month against the 21-year-old, accusing him of stealing an Anacortes couple's plane in 2010 and flying it to the airport on Orcas Island, 10 miles away.
Harris-Moore had been a headache for local law enforcement in Western Washington since boyhood, and by his late teens had taken to joyriding in airplanes as a self-taught pilot. He earned his moniker by committing some of his crimes without shoes.
In 2010, he hopscotched across Oregon, Idaho, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois in stolen cars. He stole a plane in Indiana, crash-landed off an island in the Bahamas, and was arrested when police shot out the engine of a boat he took.
He sold the rights to his story to 20th Century Fox, with the proceeds going to repay the nearly $1.4 million he owes his victims.
Weyrich declined to join other Washington prosecutors in the plea deal filed in Island County Superior Court to resolve state charges against Harris-Moore.
"The crime was committed in Skagit County," Weyrich said Wednesday.
The Skagit County prosecutor previously charged Harris-Moore, but dropped the accusations in 2011 to clear the way for the Island County plea deal. The charges were refiled on Feb. 8, and Harris-Moore will be transported from the Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen to Skagit County to face them.
Prosecutors are seeking an exceptional sentence against Harris-Moore, which would authorize the judge to impose a sentence above the standard range for the crimes. The charges carry a maximum of 10 years in prison. If he is convicted, some of the sentence could run at the same time as the one he's already serving.
Harris-Moore's attorney, John Henry Browne, did not learn of the new charges until Wednesday, when Harris-Moore called the office to say he'd been served with an arrest warrant from Skagit County.
"All the other prosecutors tried to get Weyrich to come along with the plea deal," Browne said. "They all thought the sentence was fine, but I guess it's not OK with Mr. Weyrich. I thought Colton Harris-Moore was supposed to be the juvenile here."
Browne said that by declining to participate in the state plea deal, Weyrich had cut the Skagit County victims out of receiving restitution from any movie made about Harris-Moore. Weyrich said Wednesday he did not know whether that was true.
The Anacortes couple whose plane was stolen, Jeff and Linda Hendricks, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday. The plane sustained little damage.
Why are we giving this guy the time of day? Â So he can release a book? Â All criminals should never be reminded, only their victims.
I grew up around airplanes and I know that a twin engine aircraft is pretty complicated and requires a lot of training to fly.More so than a single engine aircraft.I'm amazed he was able to fly it the distance that he did as well as locating the Bahamas without any formal training.I'm hoping that after he pays his debt to society for his crimes that he can change his ways and be a contributing member to society especially with his smarts.On the flip side sometimes a highly intelligent criminal can be the worst kind.
@noneofyourbizzness That would be nice, but he unless he's able to show he's a treatable case I don't know that he can be trusted with much responsibility.  He's obviously fairly smart, but I can't see giving him much trust yet.
@noneofyourbizzness I agree. The highly intelligent criminal can be successful. Moriarty baffled Holmes for years.
He could find the Bahamas in a plane and most people cannot find them on a map. Seeing that he did not take anything from me, he cracks me up.
Is it "unauthorized use of flying motor vehicle"?
@Bert The FAA has piles of charges they can put on him. Unauthorized use would be too easy. :>
Every time a new charge is brought up his mother should be slapped!!!
I am curious if all the posters that feel he needs to be locked up forever because he will never change still act exactly the same way they did when they were 17.  They must in order to support their argument, and it goes a long way to explaining their outsized sense of vengeance.
We never acted THAT way!
@Mechanic uhh yeah this is a tad beyond soaping a fountain, or street racing. Theirs a few fundamental differences here.
This kid should not be locked up. He's very clever; very smart; very capable. He needs to be attending tech college. He's more like a Tom Sawyer than a hardened criminal. If you have followed the story you'd know. He's a folk hero to many kids and adults who have been neglected or raised by alcoholic messed up parents. FREE COLTON HARRIS-MOORE!!!!Â
@KKStJohn He actually worries me more than the usual dumb criminal.
@KKStJohn Well, I just hope you're saying that from the perspective of somebody who had their $300,000 property destroyed.
@KKStJohn You are absolutely right! So when I steal your TV, and car, and a few other things you'll feel the same way, right?
Does anyone who thinks this kid should be locked away know a thing about him other then what you see and hear from the news, they mostly report what they hear from the police, the police and DA could give a poop about justice, and the public read a two minute story and think they know how it should be handled. He's 21 serving a seven year sentence and you want to give him more time which will do little but make him a career criminal. I would find it hard to believe many folks at that age wouldn't deserve a seven year sentence if we only knew their story...just a thought.Â
@The Reverend I hope he steals your s--t and not mine or somebody else's. Obviously HE DIDN'T GIVE A POOP ABOUT JUSTICE EITHER.
@The Reverend I'd say that none of the posters on here know anything about this kid's story. If they did, they'd be cheering for his release.Â
@KKStJohn uhh what? Tell us the "real" story then. Because from where I sit I think he should spend a minute in prison for every dollar of property he damaged or destroyed.
And of course you have special insight that we commoners don't, right? Oh, hey, Reverend, on another topic, did they even try to teach you anything in seminary about punctualtion and sentence structure?
@Mechanic how about this, how much intelligence does it take to fly a plane? have you ever been in a cockpit? I have.. Do you know the difference between and Aileron and an Elevator? Hmm no didn't think so, so go back to you little hole whence you came and that English thought tone of punctuation and shove it up your English Arse.
Actually, I can answer "Yes" to all of your questions.   'Cept my arse is American rahter than English. Do you know what a diphthong or a siblliant is? How about a lagomorph? Crainial rectitis, maybe?
off our meds today ?
Maybe they didn't want the crime against them to be lumped in with the rest of his crimes. I hope they are able to get the charges heard in court and upheld. This "kid" will continue to break the law once he's released because he thinks just a big game.
Isn't this double jeopardy? Should be.
No, it is not. What might actually SEEM like double jeopardy would be being prosecuted for THE SAME CRIME twice. One can be tried in state court and can also be tried in federal court, no matter what the verdicts are in either. For instance, people have been found not guilty of murder in state courts, but prosecuted and convicted of "deprining someone of his civil rights" in federal court. But it is not, under the law, double jeopardy.
@axpman Â
Nope, different activity, different crime, different county. Hopefully, the Skagit County Prosecutor has prevented any participation in the proceeds from a film deal and, hopefully, any penalty arising from these additional charges will run concurrent with the already imposed jail sentence.Â
If it all works out like that then the County Prosecutor will be wasting everybody's time and he'll be looking for new employment as a wood polisher after the next election. And, Colton will have a nice distraction and a number of sight-seeing tours to break-up his prison tour.
good lock this POS away for as long as possible, once he is out he will go right back to breaking the law. Â
Keep him as long as possible. He ain't a gonna change.
Don't recal him being arrested with a "hail of bullets" to bad they missed.
It was pretty exciting. Maybe not quite a "hail of bullets," but shots were fired on both sides.
@Mechanic wait, he fired at police?