A 19-year-old fugitive burglar and internet folk hero dubbed the “Barefoot Bandit” has been extradited back to the US, just hours after pleading guilty to illegally landing a plane on the Bahamas.
Law enforcement officials escorted Colton Harris-Moore on a commercial flight to Miami today to face prosecution for a two-year string of break-ins and plane thefts across the US.
Earlier today, Harris-Moore pleaded guilty in the Bahamas to illegally entering the country. He was arrested on Sunday after a high-speed boat chase on Bahamas Harbour Island, one week after police found the wreckage of a stolen plane they believe he flew to the archipelago.
The charge stemming from the crash of the stolen plane on Great Abaco Island carried a $US300 ($340) fine. His lawyer, Monique Gomez, said the US Embassy would pay it. The shackled teen smiled after the judge read the sentence.
Bahamian police had earlier said that he would face other charges including illegal weapons possession related to a string of break-ins and thefts during his weeklong hideout in the country. Harris-Moore wore white sneakers without laces and kept his head down as armed officers escorted him to the courthouse.
A police SWAT team stood by as authorities put up street barricades ahead of the hearing for the celebrity suspect. Authorities say he earned the “Barefoot Bandit” nickname by committing some crimes while shoeless, and in February he allegedly drew chalk-outline feet all over the floor of a grocery store during a burglary in Washington’s San Juan Islands.
Harris-Moore is suspected in about 70 property crimes across eight US states and British Columbia, Canada. He achieved outlaw folk hero status by eluding authorities on foot, in stolen cars and even aeroplanes. He is accused of stealing a plane from an Indiana airport to fly to the Bahamas. The US Embassy in Nassau did not respond to queries about the timing of his deportation.
Yesterday, the FBI took Harris-Moore off the plane in Miami and put him into a waiting car. Officials said he was taken to a federal jail in Miami, where he was scheduled to have an initial court appearance today.
Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the US Attorney’s Office in Seattle, said she expected the US Marshals Service would fly Harris-Moore from Miami to Seattle, where he faces a federal complaint of interstate transportation of stolen property, alleging that he took a plane from Idaho and crashed it in Washington.
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