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| GUILTY? ME? |
The troublesome 20-year-old who has no formal flight training, pilfered at least five planes and dozens of car and boats as he evaded capture for a string of burglaries over the last two or three years.
He is suspected to have committed at least 80 break-ins on cottages and houses in Vancouver WA area, often without wearing any shoes.
But each time authorities got near he'd steal a boat or a plane to escape, even though he had no formal flight training and is believed to have taught himself from manuals.
Eventually, he flew a light plane from his home in Vancouver Island to the Caribbean, landing in the Bahamas, where a $10,000 FBI reward and a huge law enforcement team caught up with him.
Now after pleading guilty he faces a maximum of 78 months in prison and must pay more than $1.4 million in restitution when he is sentenced in October.
Under the 28-page plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Harris-Moore also agreed to forfeit any profits, intellectual property and life story rights from his crimes.
His defense attorney John Henry Browne had earlier said a final deal was complicated in part by the question of whether his client, a high school dropout and self-taught pilot, should be permitted to sell and profit from the rights to his life story.
Delighted U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan said: "Mr. Harris-Moore's flight from justice has ended. He will spend a significant amount of time in prison and he will not make a dime from his crimes."
Harris-Moore still faces a trial in state court over more than 40 charges filed sparely by four Washington counties in connection with what prosecutors said was a two-year crime spree.
