'Barefoot bandit' suspect set for transfer to Washington -- CNN
The boy who has fan clubs and even t-shirts with his face on them has finally been caught. Colton Harris-Moore, 19, has been caught will be extradited from Florida to Washington where he will face more charges. He earned the nickname 'barefoot bandit' when he broke into houses allegedly wearing no shoes. The teen has been wanted since he escaped a halfway house back in 2008 and the FBI had offered a $10,000 award for his arrest. He will be transferred sometime within the next couple weeks aboard a secure plane called "con air." He was finally captured in the Bahamas after he had crashed a stolen plane there. He plead guilty in the Bahamas of illegally crash landing a plane, paid a $300 fine, and was sent on his way to Florida. He was sent to Florida because in cases such as this you are extradited to the place closest to where the crime happened. He is wanted in other states besides Washington for multiple break ins of homes and airports and also stealing vehicles. Harris-Moore is facing up to ten years in prison. Monique Gomez, the Bahamian lawyer who represented him in the Bahamas, says she believes that he wishes he would have done things differently in his life and is remorseful, but remains in good spirits. While waiting for his hearing to begin the Miami Federal Court on Friday he was even seen sharing laughs with another detainee according to the article.
When I first heard about this case I will have to admit I was interested. A 19 year old boy who has been able to evade the police and the FBI for two years seemed pretty crazy to me. (I am sure there are crazier things, but still.) He even taught himself how to fly a plane! I feel sorry for the people who were affected by his crime spree. But still it makes you wonder about this kid and his intelligence (obviously not very smart because he should of thought better of his actions) but maybe he can turn his life around. Maybe he can aid the police in future and turn his life of crime into something promising instead of continuing it. He is very young and would still be very young even if he was sentenced to ten years and he has a lot of life to live and time to make things better.
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When I first heard about this kid, who is the my same age, doing all of this stuff, of course I was interested. I thought how it sort of sounds like the movie Catch Me If You Can with Tom Hanks, which is a pretty good movie. My hometown had a break-in a while back where this family came home late at night and what appeared to be a young man was in their house; apparently the guy was just lounging around naked, washing his clothes! I guess the police thought that it was the young man, although it was dark, the man that walked in said that the guy grabbed his clothes but was shoeless too. Who knows if it was the bandit? Anyhow, I just find it comical that this 19 year old kid was able to elude police for this long. I guess that he wasn't harming anyone, otherwise our law enforcement may have tried harder, but it is interesting to see someone receive this much publicity and be on the run for that long! Obviously he isn't that good considering he has been caught and crashed a plane in the Bahamas, but I'm sure he was getting better as he went. He'll probably just receive a slap on the wrist or the government will use him as an example of why kids shouldn't be involved in crime or illegal activities. Good article though!
ReplyDeleteThis was very crazy to me as well. I actually didnt hear about this kid until he was caught, I do not get a chance to really watch the news very often. Although I read our cities paper, but havent seen it in there either. NE-Way I think this is kind of an extraordinary kid in the aspects of being 19 and teaching himself how to drive a plane. I mean who steels a plane at 19 and get away with it for 2 years? He reminds me as well of that movie Catch Me if You Can, and also the movie with John Dillinger, because they got away with their crimes for a very, very long time. I do feel bad for those that were affected by the break ins but this kid kinda is making a little history for himself, being able to run from the FBI for so long. Or like you said, since he wasnt hurting anyone, otherwise they would have tried harder to catch him. Who knows but this is a very comical story. I enjoyed it was well!!!
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