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'Barefoot Bandit' Gets 6 1/2 Years On Federal Charges

Colton Harris-Moore, the "Barefoot Bandit."
Ted S. Warren
/
AP
Colton Harris-Moore, the "Barefoot Bandit."

Colton Harris-Moore, who gained international fame for being the so-called Barefoot Bandit, was just sentenced by a federal judge to 6 1/2 years in prison.

But since the time is to be served while he finishes out the 7 years in prison that he was sentenced to by a state court last December, it looks like Harris-Moore won't actually be spending any additional time behind bars.

The Associated Press reminds us that in 2010:

"Harris-Moore hopscotched his way across the United States, authorities said. He flew a plane stolen in northwestern Washington to the San Juan Islands, stole a pistol in British Columbia and took a plane from Idaho to Washington state, stole a boat in southwestern Washington to go to Oregon, and took a plane in Indiana and flew to the Bahamas, where was arrested. He earned his nickname because he committed several of the crimes without wearing shoes."

In court today, KIRO-TV reports, the 20-year-old Harris-Moore said he is "deeply bothered by my actions."

KING-TV says that Harris-Moore's defense team wants him to be held "in a state corrections facility, rather than a federal facility, because the state's formula for calculating credit for 'good time' (what is sometime referred to as 'time off for good behavior' while in prison) is more favorable to him than the federal rule, meaning he could potentially be released sooner from a state facility if he obeys all the rules while in prison."

As NPR's Martin Kaste previously reported, people in Harris-Moore's hometown didn't think he deserved all the attention he got.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.