"Barefoot Bandit" Colton Harris-Moore pleads guilty to state theft and burglary charges
(CBS/AP) COUPEVILLE, Wash. - The young man who stole five airplanes and led authorities on an international manhunt pleaded guilty to state theft and burglary charges in a Washington court Friday.
Colton Harris-Moore, 20, also known as the "Barefoot Bandit" because of his tendency to commit crimes in bare feet and leave drawings of feet in the places he robbed, appeared in court wearing an orange jumpsuit, with his hands in shackles.
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Harris-Moore was charged with multiple counts of theft and burglary in three counties. In 2007, the then-16-year-old was convicted of three counts of burglary and sentenced to three years in a juvenile facilty. He fled in 2008 and went back to breaking into unoccupied vacation homes in Washington, stealing food and sometimes staying there.
CBS Seattle reports that prosecutors plan to ask for a nine-and-a-half year sentence Friday, and Harris-Moore's attorneys will ask for six years. On Wednesday they presented the judge with a psychological report detailing his apparently bleak and abusive childhood.
Harris-Moore has already pleaded guilty to federal charges, including the theft of the airplane, and will be sentenced on those charges next year.