'Barefoot Bandit' gets more than 7 years for spree

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The kid that has become a folk hero of sorts just landed the better part of a decade behind bars.

The youthful thief who rocketed to international notoriety as the "Barefoot Bandit" while he evaded police in pilfered cars, boats and planes during a two-year crime spree was sentenced Friday to more than seven years in a Washington state prison after pleading guilty to dozens of charges.

Colton Harris-Moore, now 20, showed no reaction as the sentence was delivered by a judge who took pity on his bleak upbringing at the hands of an alcoholic mother and a series of her convict boyfriends — a situation she described as a "mind-numbing absence of hope."

I think a lot of people will agree with the judge on this one...

"This case is a tragedy in many ways, but it's a triumph of the human spirit in other ways," Island County Judge Vickie Churchill said. "I could have been reading about the history of a mass murderer. I could have been reading about a drug abusive, alcoholic young man. That is the triumph of Colton Harris-Moore: He has survived."

It's a sad story that he'll miss some of the best years of his life.

His story is just so fascinating. I honestly wonder what drives such free spirits to do what they do.

I also wanted to discuss the part about the movie rights.

Among the courtroom spectators Friday were 18-year-olds Annie Cain and Hayley Hanna, who drove from nearby Langley to be at the courthouse at 5:30 a.m. — four hours before the hearing.

"We wanted to be here just because he's so young, and everything he did, it's fascinating," Cain said.

Fox bought the movie rights in a deal that could be worth $1.3 million, and Dustin Lance Black, who won an Academy Award for writing the movie "Milk," about the gay rights activist Harvey Milk, is working on the screenplay.

Harris-Moore doesn't get to keep any of the money under the terms of his federal plea deal.

He doesn't get any of that money??? Does that mean that Fox still has rights to produce the film??

Let us see just how just this society of ours is. Wanna bet he gets #$% raped in prison?

Seems fair right? Steal some stuff, hurt no one physically and get butt raped. Got to love this fair and just system of ours.........

Hammurabi had a law called often referred to as the "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" law. It was the very first written law in the known world and modern society deemed it to be excessively brutal.

Nowadays simple theft can and often is, rewarded with rape......... Yup we are evolving into a most wretched species.......

Imagine being in a bar at the age of 28 and sitting down with someone who asks "What's your background?" only to spew forth an adventure novel.

This kid is going to go places. Watch for em!

reply to post by Atlantican


That's a cool concept. I thought about that too. Hopefully he educates himself while he's locked up and creates a plan. There will be plenty of people wanting more of his story.

I'm betting he does his time and comes out to land himself some profitable consulting work or the like. Much like Kevin Mitnick. They did become unique successes in very different areas, but this kid is a super-star in his 'chosen profession', so to speak. I bet he's just fine in prison. He sounds like the kind to find some niche inside to hustle himself a comfortable existence under the circumstances. I was kinda rooting for him too..... Oh Well, nothing lasts forever.