SEATTLE (Reuters) – The 20-year-old serial thief nicknamed the “Barefoot Bandit” faces final sentencing in Seattle’s U.S. District Court on Friday for his sensational, two-year crime spree as a sometimes-shoeless teenage runway.
Colton Harris-Moore could receive up to 6 1/2 years in prison for the seven federal charges he pleaded guilty to in June, including interstate transportation of two stolen airplanes and a yacht, two bank burglaries, possessing a firearm as a fugitive and piloting an aircraft without a valid license.
Federal prosecutors are seeking the maximum sentence, 78 months, while defense attorneys will asking that he serve no more than 70 months and that he be incarcerated in state prison rather than a federal penitentiary.
Last month in state court in Coupeville, Washington, Harris-Moore was sentenced to more than seven years, or 87 months, for 33 crimes ranging from residential burglary to attempting to elude police.
Through a plea deal, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and defense lawyers agreed Harris-Moore’s state and federal sentences could be served concurrently — meaning that with credit for good behavior, Harris-Moore could be released by his 26th birthday.
U.S. District Judge Richard Jones, however, has the authority to order that the two sentences be served consecutively.
Friday’s proceedings mark the finale to an extraordinary two-year saga for Harris-Moore, a