The present day Jess James not including the killing, Huckleberry Finn, or Frank Abagnale is an 18-year-old adolescent wanted by five counties in Washington. He has led a life of crime beginning when he was merely 12. He began and has led a constant career in crime. By the age of 15 “Colt” had been arrested nine times and spent time at some juvenile facilities. He was even arrested for breaking into his former school.

“Colt” dropped out of high school and spent his teens burglarizing empty homes. On Camano Island a vacation community of 15,000 people off the Washington coast Colt gained the name as the “Barefoot Burglar” because he preferred to burglarize homes with no shoes.

Gradually, he moved onto more difficult crimes. He would break into homes, steal cars, boats and whatever else he could get pinch. He also copied down credit card numbers and purchased thousands of dollars worth of video games, GPS devices, and police scanners online using the stolen credit cards. This way he could get all he wanted, without the owner knowing the credit card was stolen.

During his career of squatting homes he has also lived in the woods. He’s even been described by Detective Ed Wallace as “a feral child,” because he hides in foliage. He was caught, arrested, and plead guilty in 2007 but in less than a year he was out and back in the game.

After he was free police began receiving reports that thefts were happening that fit the “barefoot burglar” outline. In 2008 police came close to catching him until he jumped out of a stolen moving vehicle. After the occurrence police were able to recover a stolen digital camera in the discarded car that had a photograph of Harris-Moore on it.

Even though he is still on the loose he is facing 10 counts in that case, along with other thefts, internet crimes and burglaries. He dropped out of sight on the island for a while, but then police were getting notices of related break-ins in the San Juan Islands. Police believed he was island hopping. Then Wallace received word of a theft of a Cessna 182 from the San Juan islands last November. Then he remembered seeing on Harris-Moore’s computer that he had looked at flight manuals and how to fly a an aircraft.

Then an additional small experimental plane went missing and authorities believe Harris-Moore is responsible. Although he hasn’t been charged in these plane thefts, authorities are testing vomit found in the cockpit of one of the stolen planes to see if it matches the teen. Although this “barefoot burglar” never took flight instruction, police are sure he’s the unknown pilot.

It’s complex to teach yourself to fly but it isn’t unheard of. It seems that it wouldn’t be difficult to fly the plane if he wasn’t too worried about landing it or reusing it. Just last week he stole a boat and used it to arrive at Point Roberts where he burglarized three vacation homes. Then he took another plane from Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho. The plane was out of fuel but he wrecked it and discarded it.

Then police received notice of a burglary in Granite Falls, Washington The only stuff missing were “blankets, shoes, and food.” Police decided to search the woods but a shot rang out. No one was injured but the SWAT team did take action. Police searched the area using an infrared heat detection scanner and a Blackhawk helicopter provided by the Department of Homeland Defense.

Harris-Moore has a talent for eluding police and other legal officials. Not only has he escaped discovery and arrest, but he survives these planes that he crashes and ditches. Although he may have a more difficult time now that the FBI is involved because he took stolen possessions across state boundaries and that’s a federal crime.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

Technorati Tags: Barefoot Burglar, Burglaries, burglary, Camano Island, Career In Crime, Cars Boats, Credit Card Numbers, crime, Crime Spree, Detective Ed, Feral Child, Frank Abagnale, Free Police, Harris Moore, Internet Crimes, Jess James, Juvenile Facilities, Law, Life Of Crime, Nine Times, Police Scanners Online, San Juan Islands, Stealing, Teenager, Vacation Community