Why the Barefoot Bandit has more Facebook friends than I do

by Pat Brown

BREAKING NEWS! The Barefoot Bandit was captured in the Bahamas on Sunday!

Who is Colton Harris-Moore, the so-named Barefoot Bandit, fugitive burglar and Internet bad boy who just had his two-year crime spree brought to a screeching halt on a small tropical island not far from Florida? Is he a despicable little two-bit teenage thief with no respect for decent people or the law? Or is Harris-Moore a handsome, dazzlingly clever, real-life Pink Panther-type folk hero, a thief with Catch Me if You Can nonviolent con artistry?

However you answer, Harris-Moore's antics have garnered him headlines, even The Today Show's attention. Perhaps not surprising with so much media coverage, he's amassed a huge following, including a Facebook Fan page where more than 65,000 people kept up with his crime spree, as the cops chased him across the globe. Harris-Moore even has a song written about him on YouTube (which sucks, by the way). His supposed Twitter page lists his present location as "Wouldn't you like to know?" (Well, we know now, don't we? In jail.)

A recent tweet read: "I love how Twitter just asked me if I'd like to 'Add Location' to my tweets. Nice try. :-D."

I don't know if it was really Colton Harris-Moore running the Twitter account, but I'm sure whoever is behind it had a good time. Social media and cable news surely made him infamous, but the exposure also backfired, making him recognizable to folks on the lookout. The Bahamians managed to ID the 6'5" blue-eyed blond, and law enforcement closed in. Spree ended.

Let's take a look at this kid. Nineteen-year-old Harris-Moore has a long criminal history starting at the age of twelve. It appears that he got at least some of his criminal mentality from his own mother, a sort of in-house Fagin. Her comments to the press are quite disturbing and revealing. The Tribune out of the Bahamas writes this of Mommy Dearest:

Pam Kohler, Harris-Moore's mother, said she wasn't surprised her son might be responsible for the plane theft because he had taught himself how to fly.

She has publicly defended her son, and claims the allegations against him are exaggerated. She told The Associated Press she would have preferred he fled to a country that doesn't have an extradition treaty with the United States.

"The furthest he gets from the US, the better," she said from her home on Camano Island. "I'm glad he's able to enjoy beautiful islands, but they extradite. It doesn't help matters at all."

Furthermore, Mum whines that he was accused of crimes he didn't do although he managed to get charged with 23 felonies just in his home county.

"It was ridiculous," Kohler said. "They made such a big damn deal of everything. He was blamed for everything that happened in [the] county. [The police] even took some of my jewelry, tried to say that he stole it, and put in in evidence against him."

She doesn't think he's hurting anyone? Let's just ignore the monetary losses, the gun he waved at people, terrifying them. I guess if sonny boy hasn't killed anyone, he's a sweetie-pie.

So Harris-Moore continued his criminal life, presumably with his mom's blessing. Then, a couple of years ago, he ran from a halfway house (undoubted Mom would say he was railroaded) and started his own crime wave. He sometimes committed crimes in bare feet (once he was actually totally naked) and in one burglary he left chalk footprints as his calling card (ooh, so Hollywood). He's a suspect in more than seventy crimes which include burglaries of businesses, home invasions and stolen cars, boats, and airplanes. He is being investigated in Washington State, Oregon, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois (and other places I'm sure). Then he got really cocky and stole a plane which he crashed into the island of Abaco in the Bahamas.

I guess Mom didn't realize her boy wasn't going to be a terrorist and failed to make sure he knew how to land? It was a dumb place to go. Didn't he realize he was going to an ISLAND? A place surrounded by water and no bus to jump on or car to boost to get away? He did try to steal a speed boat, but he got caught before he could motor off.

Mum may yet come out on top. There's already a movie in the making as 20th Century Fox has bought the film rights to the book "Taking Flight: The Hunt for a Young Outlaw." Pamela Kohler has retained an entertainment lawyer for her own book and possible movie deal.

Colton Harris-Moore's mother says: "I think it is kind of neat." I do too. I think it's kind of neat that he's in custody and going to spend a long, long time in prison. The only thing I don't think is neat that this poor excuse for a mother may think getting pregnant has finally paid off.

I hope all of Harris-Moore's fans are bummed today. People should be cheering those who give to our country, not egging on those who work to destroy it and the good citizens within it. No lazy, victimizing, coldblooded psychopath should have so many folks rooting for him. I hope at some point they see that they're encouraging crime, criminality, and lawlessness.

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The Facebook Fugitives

by Donna Pendergast

Craig "Lazie" Lynch was incarcerated on an aggravated burglary charge at Hollesley Bay Prison in southern England. Last September he escaped the minimum security facility by walking away; he began a life on the run. But rather than seek anonymity, the effusive escapee began to taunt police with profanity-laced insults on his Facebook  page, bragging of steak dinners, girlfriends and the free life.

One picture (left), posted around Christmas time, shows him shirtless with a cooked turkey in one hand, middle finger raised on the other, and a strand of tinsel garland around his neck. The caption in his Facebook information box said: "life is what you make it, live fast die young." His arrogant updates included "Craig Lazie Lynch is thinkin' which lucky girl will be my first of 2010" and "I've got a fantastic video, me watching the London firework display, surrounded by thousands of incompetent pigs."

Lynch's Facebook page was shut down after authorities contacted Facebook looking for information as to his whereabouts. Lynch responded with a new Facebook page named Maximus Justice, where he began an even bolder string of taunts. By the time he was recaptured in January, he'd become a web celebrity with nearly 40,000 Facebook fans. He was even the subject of a song written by American country singer Kent Crawford titled, naturally, "Crazy Craig Lazy Lynch."

If you think this sounds familiar, you are right. In March, I posted a blog on Colton Harris-Moore, the one-man crime wave from Seattle who walked away from a halfway house. He's achieved mythic status for his daredevil crimes and open mockery of the police. His exploits have earned him a large Facebook following and attracted national media attention. Like Lynch, he has also inspired a song, called "The Ballad of Barefoot Harris." Harris-Moore remains on the lam despite the offer of $50,000 to turn himself in. The offer expired last Tuesday at 3:00 p.m., and the money, which had been placed in a trust account by a Washington lawyer, is being returned to its anonymous donor.

While Lynch openly courted fame, Harris-Moore's fame has grown due to his uncanny ability to pull off crimes that seem straight out of the movies while continuing to evade arrest. Nonetheless, both fugitives acquired a large fan base on Facebook and cult-hero status for escaping from custody and making a mockery of the police. Lynch has been called a "Digital Dillinger," and Harris-Moore has been compared to Jesse James (without the murders) and D.B. Cooper.

So why, as a culture, do we romanticize criminals who defy the system? Is it because many of us like to challenge authority -- vicariously? From Robin Hood to Jesse James, people rally around the defender of the common people, pitted against the oppression or corruption of the established power structure. But Robin Hood at least took from the rich to feed the poor.

Lynch and Harris-Moore benefit no one other than themselves. They feed nothing but their own egos with their escapades, and by publicly taunting police and any efforts to rein in their criminal, self-serving behavior. Yet their numerous Facebook followers suggest people admire their exploits rather than condemn their anti-social behavior.

In these days of Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites, heroes can be created and immortalized almost overnight. The glorification of criminals on social networking sites is the latest twist on a recurring theme that suggests a complex dynamic where normally upstanding citizens harbor a strange affinity for certain criminal behavior.

The perception of crime as glamorous is all too commonplace in the impoverished inner-city. Youths with little future fear police while looking up to the power and status of easy money from drug-dealing and brutal displays of violence meant to keep people in line and ensure loyalty. One can only hope that the public interest in Facebook criminals is more fascination than true admiration.

Statements made in this post are my own and do not reflect the views, opinion or position of the Michigan Attorney General or the Michigan Department of Attorney General.

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The Ballad of Barefoot Harris

by Donna Pendergast

It would seem logical that Colton Harris-Moore would have a hard time hiding. The lanky six-foot-five 18-year-old would certainly stand out in a crowd, let alone on Camano Island. The island is a slightly less than 40-square-mile block of land in Puget Sound off the Seattle mainland. But the serial burglar has eluded police since walking away from a halfway house in April 2008. In the last two years he has gained a fan club, a large Facebook following, and national media attention for his exploits as he has outfoxed police at every turn. The one-man crime wave has made a mockery of local authorities in Catch Me As You Can Fashion while achieving cult hero status for committing crimes that seem straight from the movies.

The Stuff of Bad Legends, aka Momma Tried

Brought up for the most part by a single mother in a dilapidated trailer on Camano Island, Harris-Moore first became known to police after stealing a bike at age eight. First convicted of possession of stolen property at age 12, he quickly racked up three similar convictions within a few months of turning 13. By age 15, with nine previous arrests to his credit, he was sentenced in 2007 to more than three years in juvenile detention after being caught in an unoccupied home when a neighbor noticed lights on. Harris-Moore was later transferred to the halfway house, where he snuck out a window and into notoriety.

Among other things, the elusive escapee is suspected of committing scores of residential burglaries in Washington and Idaho, and in the San Juan Islands north of Seattle, stealing money, credit card numbers and other valuables. He also takes necessities like blankets and food to survive day-to-day while running from the law. A bit of a survivalist, it is believed that Harris-Moore has managed to fly under the radar and avoid detection by living and hiding in camps in the woods, sometimes using infra-red goggles ordered off the internet. He is said to have a vast knowledge of northwestern plants and animals, and he's known to run through the woods barefoot and catch his own food. He is also known to enter unoccupied seasonal homes in remote areas in the islands around Seattle.

Harris-Moore's escapades range from breaking into houses for baths and ice cream, to stealing thousands of dollars from safes and ATMs in the Orcas Islands. On a larger scale, he is suspected of stealing boats and luxury cars, which he later abandons after committing his crimes. On one occasion Harris-Moore, in a Mercedes "borrowed" from a neighbor, eluded chasing police by bailing out of the still rolling car and slipping into the adjacent woods. The rolling car dislodged a propane pipe at a cafe and grocery, and pursuing police only narrowly averted a disastrous explosion. Authorities later found a self portrait on a digital camera on the front seat of the vehicle. That photograph (top) shows Harris-Moore lying in ferns wearing a polo shirt with the Mercedes logo. That shirt was taken from the neighbor as well.

Surveillance footage from many of the burglaries show Harris-Moore as a barefooted thief, earning him the nickname the "Barefoot Burglar." His sans-shoes proclivity has been parodied on YouTube in a song labeled The Ballad of Barefoot Harris. As light-hearted as the song may be, Harris-Moore recently revealed a more sinister side. He broke into a police car and stole a rifle. He later left a note saying "Cops wanna play huh!? Well it's no lil game ... it's war and tell them that." As a result of that note he is now considered armed and dangerous.

Perhaps most intriguing to his fans and followers is the suspicion that Harris-Moore has recently taken to joyriding in airplanes which he has taken by hotwiring and later crashed while managing to walk away unscathed. Although the evidence has not yet conclusively linked him to the robberies, four stolen airplanes have been found crashed near areas where Harris-Moore is suspected of committing crimes. With no formal flight training, but harboring a longtime fascination with flying, it is believed Harris-Moore taught himself to fly by reading flight manuals, playing video games and searching the internet.

Last month, during his most recent aviation aventure, Harris-Moore is believed to have nearly entered restricted airspace above Vancouver during the Winter Olympics before crash-landing on a runway at Orcas Island's Eastsound Airport. His handiwork was later discovered by the owner of a nearby market, who arrived later that morning to find his store burglarized. He also discovered giant chalk outlines of feet drawn all over the floor; meanwhile, his surveillance system sat in a sink under running water. Two of the chalk feet led out the market's door and were accompanied by a scrawled message that said "C-YA."

Harris-Moore's mother claims that her son is still in the area and goes out regularly in public while in disguise. Police officers who have caught a glimpse of Harris-Moore during his multiple misdeeds claim that he has an uncanny ability to vanish into thin air, or at least into the woods, in the blink of an eye. Law enforcement authorities have grown weary of Harris-Moore's cat-and-mouse games and vow to apprehend him sooner rather than later. We will see, in the meantime, as the legend of Barefoot Harris continues to grow.

Statements made in this post are my own and are not intended to reflect the views, opinions or position of the Michigan Attorney General or the Michigan Department of Attorney General.

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