COUPEVILLE – Colton Harris-Moore, the notorious Barefoot Bandit, is scheduled to return to Island County Superior Court to face state charges on Dec. 16.
The hearing was announced Monday by the Island County Sheriff’s Office.
Harris-Moore, 20, faces more than 30 felonies in Island, San Juan and Snohomish counties. He’s already pleaded guilty in federal court to charges connected with a multi-state crime spree.
The sentencing of Colton Harris-Moore, also known as the Barefoot Bandit, has been delayed to Dec. 9 to allow more time to settle state charges, reports the Seattle Times.
The sentencing had previously been scheduled for Oct.28.
Harris-Moore has been accused of plane theft, boat theft and multiple burglaries in homes and business across multiple states. He was arrested in the Bahamas in July of 2010.
Although the Camano Island native pleaded guilty in June to seven federal charges, he still faces more than 30 charges in San Juan, Island, Skagit, and Snohomish counties.
CAMANO ISLAND — The Barefoot Bandit’s mother says she’s willing to take the blame for her son’s criminal behavior if it means her boy will serve less prison time.
“I’ll take the blame if it’ll get my kid out faster,” Pam Kohler told The Herald Tuesday.
Kohler’s son, Colton Harris-Moore, 20, is accused of stealing five planes, boats, cars and committing dozen of burglaries across nine states and three countries.
Harris-Moore currently faces up to 10 years in prison.
Here is the statement from Harris-Moore that he wrote to the victims of his crimes:
I am writing this from the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac, Washington. This Statement is primarily for my neighbors and the communities of Camano Island and the San Juan Islands, where I was born and raised, and the people there with whom I have the closest connections.
I want to explain why I have just signed an agreement with a movie studio for my so called “life story” rights.
First and foremost, I am grateful beyond words that nobody was physically hurt by my dangerous and careless actions. I know too that I am lucky to be alive.
I did things that were not only a violation of law, but also of trust. I can’t undo what I did. I can only try to make things better.
It may not be obvious but the reason I signed the movie agreement is simple. I said that I would cooperate with a movie company only if an agreement would assure full recovery for the victims whose property I invaded and stole.
It took months of negotiations but they were successful.
I am humbled to know I can now help the people I hurt, as least for the financial damage I caused them. I have absolutely zero interest in profiting from any of this and I won’t make a dime off it. It all goes to restitution. That’s what I insisted on from the beginning and the contract I signed guarantees it.
No one forced or pressured to accept these terms. It was my idea – before the government knew about it. I learned that the “Son of Sam” laws do not apply in my case because none of my crimes involved violence, so I didn’t have to sign this agreement. I signed it only out of my hope to help make things right, as best I can. Getting money to my victims is the least I can do, and because of my situation it is probably the best I can do.
In due time I hope to earn the forgiveness of my neighbors and community, and everyone else I’ve hurt. I will continue to do everything in my power to make things better. My commitment to that endeavor is what keeps me going.
“Stealing Suburbia” debuted at the Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner earlier this year.
It tells the story of a teenage fugitive who evades capture while breaking into homes, stealing boats and making off with airplanes — a plot that probably rings a bell for anyone even remotely familiar with the saga of Camano Island’s infamous Barefoot Bandit.
You won’t hear Harris-Moore’s name mentioned in the film; its makers named their character Malcolm Thomas-Moore to avoid any legal problems. But make no mistake: This is the story of the Barefoot Bandit, give or take a few artistic liberties.
New York University student Adityavikram Gupta produced the film, an idea he said grew from a conversation with director David Shapiro last year. The duo dreamed the movie up after reading a news article documenting Harris-Moore’s string of crimes, which Gupta likens to a stranger-than-fiction version of a 2002 movie staring Leonardo DiCaprio.
“It sounded exactly like ‘Catch Me If You Can,’ except this kid was doing crazier things,” Gupta said Thursday in a phone interview. “It sounded like the perfect story.”
The 22-minute film had a $63,000 budget and took 11 days to shoot. It was filmed in New York City, with wilderness scenes mostly staged at a park in Queens. Most of the story accurately depicts Harris-Moore’s history, though the filmmakers added a love interest and a stepfather.
The character’s love of flying takes center stage, Gupta said.
“For us, the angle was this young kid pursuing his childhood dreams,” he said. “We felt there was a kind of innocence to his actions.”
Actor Kyle Kirkpatrick, cast as Malcolm Thomas-Moore, said the film stops short of Harris-Moore’s arrest in the Bahamas — mostly because production was already underway when authorities finally landed the fugitive. The movie ends with the teenager taking off from Indiana in a stolen plane.
Kirkpatrick is sympathetic to Harris-Moore, but added this caveat: “We realize a lot of people in Washington were victims of Colton’s crimes, and we don’t want people to think we’re glorifying that. We literally just saw a good story and wanted to tell that story.”
“I haven’t been able to talk to Colton, obviously, but I think there’s a lot of pain when it comes to his story,” Kirkpatrick said. “As an actor, it was very fulfilling.”
Colton Harris-Moore, who gained a popular following as the “Barefoot Bandit,” has pleaded not guilty to all charges in federal court in Seattle.
The 20-year-old is accused of a two-year cross-country burglary spree in stolen cars, boats and planes — some of the crimes allegedly committed while he was barefoot. He entered his plea Thursday.
Harris-Moore’s lawyer, John Henry Browne, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Darwin Roberts previously said in court they hoped to have a plea deal reached by the end of last month that would provide the framework for resolving state and federal charges.
The deal would’ve allowed money from book or movie deals to be used as restitution to crime victims. But in the past few days, prosecutors have said they’re reluctant to let Harris-Moore sell his story.
——————
The teenage thief dubbed the “Barefoot Bandit” by police has pleaded guilty to a minor offense in the Bahamas and is expected to be deported soon to the United States.
Colton Harris-Moore pleaded guilty to illegal landing in his first court appearance in Nassau on Tuesday.
The charge carries a $300 fine or three months in jail, followed by deportation.
The defense attorney for Colton-Harris Moore said the 20-year-old was on crutches Thursday after he injured his ankle during a volleyball game at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac.
“He was in pain, but not a great deal of pain,” said John Henry Browne, who said the injury is a minor sprain.
SEATTLE — Plea negotiations for the Barefoot Bandit have narrowed in on money that may be earned should Colton Harris-Moore sell his story.
That doesn’t mean the talks have stopped.
“Federal plea negotiation have not hit a snag at this point,” said Emma Scanlon, Harris-Moore’s defense attorney. “We are moving forward.”
Contrary to some news reports Wednesday, the complex legal case against the 20-year-old Camano Island man is proceeding and some resolution is likely within the next 10 days, Scanlon said.
“Barefoot Bandit” Colton Harris-Moore has been indicted on one new charge related to the alleged cross-country theft spree that saw him become an international celebrity.
In the indictment filed in U.S. District Court at Seattle, federal prosecutors claim the government is owed the rights to any “intellectual property” related to the crime. That would mean he couldn’t profit by selling his story for a book or movie, for instance.
Harris-Moore, 20, is facing a slew of local and federal charges stemming from his lengthy flight from justice. The alleged plane and boat thief was arrested in the Bahamas after he crashed a stolen aircraft there in July.
(CBS/AP) FRIDAY HARBOR, Wash. – Colton-Harris Moore, the Seattle teen known as the “Barefoot Bandit,” is facing 16 new charges connected with the theft of an airplane and robbery of an airport hangar, in addition to his already lengthy list of more than 70 crimes across nine states.
