BAREFOOT BANDIT

One of our areas most notorious desperadoes is Colton Harris-Moore better known as the barefoot bandit. Colt has a Facebook page with 34,994 fans. He has achieved folk hero status. He does not rob from the rich and give to the poor. He has indeed used all his stolen goods for his own benefit, but he seems to be a somewhat polite burglar. He often broke into vacation homes and stayed a few days eating what food he could find, sleeping in their beds and cleaning up after himself. I don’t know if that meant he washed the sheets and put clean ones on the bed, picked up around the house and washed the dishes but it does mean is was not especially destructive in his thievery. He was a very nice bad guy, you know, like the James brothers.

I got caught up in his story from Rolling Stone Magazine while waiting in the hospital for a wheelchair bound friend who fell out of her chair, banged her head and had been experiencing sever headaches and swelling. Some were fearful she might have suffered a concussion. She didn’t. But going to the hospital was the right thing.

While waiting I watched football until a five-year-old boy came to the waiting room walked right over and sat down beside me and offered to share his Pop Tart. We had a wonderful conversation as he got up and down on the chair, wandered around the small room and tried to tell me why he was there. In time he asked if there were any kid programs on TV. I couldn’t find one and he assured me they had them the last time he was here. He also told me how the room was arranged for his last visit. He missed the kid’s table that was right over there. Apparently his little sister is brought in often. After mom and grandma arrived he picked up Rolling Stone magazine brought it to me asking me to read something to him. I was somewhat stunned and thumbed through the magazine to see what I could find. Nothing. It didn’t matter as he wandered off and then the whole family left. I missed him the moment he left.

But having the magazine in my hand I searched for an article I might enjoy. There it was: Eight pages on Colton-Harris Moore. To summarize Wikipedia says:
"Colton A. "Colt" Harris-Moore (born March 22, 1991) is a former fugitive from Camano Island, Washington. He has been charged in the thefts of at least five small aircraft, a boat, and two cars and in the burglaries of at least 100 private residences in various locations around the Pacific Northwest of the United States and Canada. He fled to the Bahamas on July 4, 2010, allegedly in a plane stolen from Bloomington, Indiana.10 He was indicted on July 6, 2010 by a U.S. Federal Court in Seattle, Washington on charges of transporting another stolen aircraft in that state. Harris-Moore was arrested in Harbour Island, Bahamas on July 11, 2010, after police shot out the engine of the boat in which he was attempting to flee.5 Two days later, he was deported from Nassau, Bahamas to Miami, Florida and transferred on July 21 to SeaTac, Washington where he is awaiting trial.9

He became known as the "Barefoot Bandit" or "Barefoot Burglar" by reportedly committing some of his crimes barefoot, once leaving behind a chalk footprint. Despite the widely reported nickname, officials said that he more often wore shoes."

There are 183 supportive comments on his Facebook page. One reporter has or is about to publish a book. He didn’t even wait for the ending. But Colt has an interesting abusive start to life. He hated what drugs and alcohol did to his parents and never took up the habits. I guess they were good examples after all.

What is it about our joy for the one who gets away? I still read books and watch movies about Frank and Jesse James. When visiting Alcatraz I was most interested in Al Capone’s cell. I loved the movie “Catch Me if You Can!” Well, Colt was caught, this nice sweet and gentle young man who stole and damaged millions of dollars of planes, cars, electronics and food. I know the book will be good. I’ll pick it up at a second hand store. I’ll catch the movie on Netflix. I don’t want to miss a good story. I love the good guy winning, but many of us seem to enjoy a good story of evasion. I know I do.