19-year-old Colton Harris-Moore was arrested Sunday morning on the northern island of Eleuthera.
Click for FBI wanted poster
Following the Natalee Holloway debacle, governments in that part of the world were not going to let Colton get away. The youth, known as the “barefoot bandit” because he committed several of his crimes without footwear, eluded law enforcement in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Canada for over two years while on an alleged crime spree that included the theft of 5 airplanes, several yachts and boats, and over 100 burglaries.
After two years on the lam in the Pacific Northwest, he apparently stole a plane in Indiana last week and flew it to the Bahamas, probably seeking warmer climes. That move was no doubt his downfall, as tourist dependant small nations have a different form of justice and police procedures than the US, and he probably awoke this morning to find a dozen M-16’s on full auto pointed at his head.
Additionally, those tropical islands lack the heavy cover and dense forest that the islands he had been hiding on in the Pacific Northwest have. The small (110 miles long by as little as 1 mile wide) Eleuthera island has a population of over 8,000; making the pale 6 foot 5 inch foreigner easy to spot. Having a $10,000 bounty on his head also made him a worthwhile target to inhabitants of the cash strapped Caribbean Isles.
Harris-Moore had developed a cult status with a face book page, fan clubs and Internet sites devoted to his exploits. Perhaps it was because of this infamy that his ego got the best of him and he chose to leave the relative security of the Pacific Northwest woods and hit the beach on a Caribbean isle. I personally would be really bummed if I had to camp out this last fall-winter-spring cycle up here. As with most criminals, however, he could have just become greedier, or like a spy during the cold war, decided to come out from the cold.
Either way, the kid is not only very smart but obviously a sociopath, and should be put away for a long time. I am not aware of any treatment that will cure him of his lack of conscience or his contempt for society, and fear that his inevitable incarceration will only harden him, much like it did to another youngster with similar attributes two generations ago, outlaw John Dillinger.
Officials said police expect to fly Harris-Moore within hours from Eleuthera to Nassau, the capital of the island chain off the Florida coast.
