The Barefoot Burglar Strikes Again!
18 year-old Colton Harris-Moore is the infamous "barefoot burglar," a serial crook who roams the Pacific Northwest—sometimes barefoot—stealing planes, cars, boats, everything. A recent plane theft and store robbery suggests Harris Moore's whimsical reign of terror continues.
Last night, someone broke into a store on Orcas Island off the northwest coast of Washington. This morning the shop-owner found chalk outlines of feet on scrawled the floor along with the message: "C-YA!". And a stolen plane was found at the Orcas Island airport. The barefoot burglar has (maybe) struck again!
Those of you unfamiliar with Harris-Moore's exploits should refer to this TIME article from last year: America's Most-Wanted Teen Bandit. In it, you will learn that Harris-Moore has "become a legend in the Pacific Northwest" since escaping a halfway house in April 2008 and embarking on a crime spree throughout the upper-left parts of America. His Facebook fan page has grown from 8,000 members last December to more than 16,000 today. Colton-Harris has been linked the thefts of three planes, a boat and a car—plus burglaries of at least 50 homes, according to Wikipedia. And he likes to screw with the police:
When police recently retrieved a stolen Mercedes-Benz on Camano, they discovered a camera with a photo that Harris-Moore had snapped of himself. [See above] The manhunt has become more intense. Before slipping away from a police raid on his mother's trailer, Harris-Moore left a note: "Cops wanna play huh!? Well its no lil game.....It's war! & tell them that." Authorities say he then broke into a deputy's car and stole, among other things, an assault rifle.
It's hard not to root for this kid. Especially when you learn of his tough upbringing, and how funny his mom, Pam Kohler, is. She told Fox News: "I hope to hell he stole those planes. I'd be so proud. But next time, I want him to wear a parachute." But, you know, there are laws against throwing away your shoes, taking to the woods to live like a modern-day Huck Finn—stealing to survive and occasionally filching a plane or a luxury car for a joy ride. So don't do it?