Colton Harris-Moore, the Barefoot Bandit, has just been sentenced to 7-years in prison after pleading guilty to more than a dozen state charges in Washington.
The Barefoot Bandit gained international fame as he eluded police across the country while stealing boats, cars, and planes over a two-year period. Harris-Moore was caught back in 2009 and has pleaded guilty to charges of burglary and identity theft.
Judge Vickie Churchill handed down the sentence on Friday. While sentencing Moore to prison, she commended him on not becoming a murderer or a drunk. Churchill said:
“This case is a tragedy in many ways, but it’s a triumph of the human spirit in other ways… 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.”
Dr. Richard S. Adler, a psychiatrist who evaluated Harris-Moore, said:
“What was characterized by the media as the swashbuckling adventures of a rakish teenager were in fact the actions of a depressed, possibly suicidal young man with waxing and waning post-traumatic stress disorder.”
The Inquisitr reported in June that the Barefoot Bandit plans on paying back the $1.4 million he owes his victims with a Hollywood movie. “Taking Flight: The Hunt for a Young Outlaw,” will be produced by Twentieth Century Fox. Colton Harris-Moore’s salary will be used to pay back his victims.
CBS reports that Harris-Moore plans to use his prison time to get ready for college. Moore will be nearly 30 by the time he gets out, but says that he wants to go to college to an aeronautical engineering degree.
Do you think the Barefoot Bandit deserved 7-years in prison?
