Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - The Barefoot Bandit - The Story of Colton Harris Moore

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

This is the story of Colton Harris Moore aka The Barefoot Bandit

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My whole world is falling apart right now. It's chaos. Watch the Hulu original series. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for Bumno subscribers. Terms apply. So this teenage kid, he commits so many crimes that he's about to run from police for years, steal a plane, and escape to another country.

Now, his name's Colton, and he's only 12, and his life sucks. He lives in a small trailer in the woods on a little island off the coast of Washington. And his mom is an addict, and so he mostly has to take care of himself. So he spends most his days in the woods, alone, reading about airplanes, because one day he wants to be a pilot. Now eventually he starts breaking into neighboring houses, stealing things, mostly food, but over time he starts stealing other things, a laptop and credit cards. And interestingly, he often doesn't wear shoes for some reason, like he does most of this

barefoot. And so this barefoot kid is always in and out of trouble. And one day he doesn't show up for a mandatory court date, and bam, the police start looking for him. And Colton learns they're looking for him, and so he hides out in the woods. for like six months. He finds vacation homes and he breaks into those and he sleeps there, or he'll steal food and camping supplies and he'll sleep out in the forest. But then, eventually, boom, police catch him. And they convict him and he's sentenced to three years in juvenile detention. And of course, Colton hates being locked up. He can't ever be a pilot while he's in

detention. So a little over a year later, he sneaks out an unlocked window and he escapes. So now he's on the run again. And he goes back to the area. where he used to live, and he starts sleeping in the woods and breaking into vacation homes again. So he's constantly on the move, and stealing things like food and supplies and cars. And this goes on for months before finally police close in on him. One day he's driving a Mercedes he had stolen. And they spot him because he's driving like an asshole, and they go to pull him over in a parking lot,

and he jumps out of the car while it's still moving, and he takes off and runs into the woods. And so police search the car and they find a backpack he had stolen, and a digital camera he had stolen. And on that camera, they find this selfie he took. Then, Colton steals a boat, and he drives it from his island to a different island. And on the new island, he breaks into all kinds of homes and businesses again,

and he steals a bunch more shit. So this guy's been in and out of trouble for years at this point. He's like 16 or 17 years old at this time. And if you're like, Ray, how could a teenager cause this much chaos? Like, wouldn't he want friends or like a girlfriend? What exactly is Colton getting out of all of this? Well, let me just say that this kid never had a chance at a normal life. Starting from when he was a little kid, his upbringing messed him up.

And I'm not trying to invoke sympathy for him. I'm just saying that the home life he grew up in, the environment he grew up in, was an absolute disaster. When he was a toddler, his dad was a drug addict. So he was raised mostly by his mom, who was apparently a raging alcoholic and was extremely neglectful to. him. His neighbors later said they called child protective services more than once because they believed that he was being abused or neglected. Child protective services actually showed up to his place 12 different times. One of those times they actually even removed him from the home for a period of time. So yeah, all of this set his life up for an eventual disaster.

That's why he was living in the woods and running around barefoot for so long as a kid. I mean, what else was he supposed to do? Anyway, so Colton is still out there and he's still on the run from police. And by now, his story is starting to catch on in the media. I mean, this teenage burglar who police can't seem to catch, and he's starting to get a little reputation. But Colton, he isn't too worried about that. He's way too preoccupied with his lifelong dream of becoming a pilot.

And during this time, he decides he's going to make that happen. So he goes and he breaks into a small airplane hanger, and he steals a single propeller plane. and he manages to get it running and he actually gets it in the air. Now, he has no formal flight training, only reading piloting manuals and watching instructional videos on his computer that he had stolen, but he somehow managed to get this plane flying, and he keeps it in the air for three and a half hours

before he finally crashes it on a Native American reservation in mainland Washington. About a year later, he steals another plane, but this one he only flies at about 10 miles before, he lands it correctly this time. No crashes. Two weeks later, he breaks into another hangar and steals a third plane in Idaho. And he flies at 250 miles back to Washington and this one he crash lands in a field. Meanwhile, the legend of Colton and his crimes are growing. I mean, he's 17 now and he's been on the run from police for like years. And he's stealing boats and planes and they just can't seem to catch him. So he's starting to get fans online. And because he often doesn't wear shoes,

they call him the barefoot bandit. Someone even starts a Facebook fan page for him. And that fan page gets over 100,000 followers. While one company starts making t-shirts with Colton's face on them. People are even writing songs about him and putting them on YouTube. Really?

I know shit. He's got a barefoot family. I mean, dude is blowing up. And of course, all this sudden attention, it starts to put a lot of heat on him. And by now, the FBI is involved in this manhunt, looking for him. But Colton, he's like, whatever, he's still out there robbing houses and stealing cars. And so another year passes. And he decides, okay, there's too much heat on me. It's time to

steal another plane and get the hell out of the country. But first, he has to find the right plane. So he jacks a boat and he drives it to mainland Oregon. And from there, he goes to a small airport and he doesn't find the plane he wants. So then he just steals a car. And from there, he goes to two more airports and he still doesn't find the right plane. Then he tries an airport in South Dakota and nope, still doesn't find the right plane. Then he just keeps on stealing car after car, hopping from state to state, breaking into airport after airport, looking for the right one that has the plane he wants. And after driving over 2,000 miles through nine different states and almost a dozen stolen cars, Colton hits up a small airport in Indiana and he finally finds the plane he's

looking for, the Cessna 400. And bam, he's straight up Jackson, and he takes off and he's in the air, and he flies 11 hours, over 1,200 miles, from Indiana to Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas. And once he's there, he kind of crash lands in shallow waters near the shore. That crash landing triggers the plane's emergency locator beacon, which is how the FBI ultimately learns that Colton is now in the Bahamas. But Colton has no idea, because within hours, he's breaking into local houses and businesses again, and stealing cash and food and all kinds of stuff. Then he steals another boat,

and he flees to the nearby island of Erygerga, where he hopes to blend in with the constant crowd of tourists there. But unfortunately for Colton, he can't blend into the crowd. He's just too famous now. And within a few days, locals start to recognize him as the barefoot bandit, and they tip off local police. So pretty quickly, Colton finds himself in yet another stolen boat, speeding away as Bahamian police chase him, and like a Miami Vice

type boat chase. And as he's hauling ass and getting away, kaboom, he high-centers his boat on a sandbar. He is stuck. And as he's trying to unstick his ride, of course police rolled right up on him. And they opened fire on his boat, taking out his engine. And there is where Colton, the barefoot bandit, finally surrenders. So then, bam, they arrested. him. Here's his mugshot. And Colton gets charged with all kinds of stuff and ultimately he gets sentenced to six and a half years in prison. Oh, but here's the best part. Apparently Colton's story is so interesting, he's able to sell the movie rights to his life to 20th century Fox for a whopping $1.3 million. But unfortunately, as part of the punishment for all his crimes, the court ordered that he's not allowed to profit from his story. So he doesn't get to keep any of that money.

All of it has to go to pay back his victims, the people he stole from. And apparently he's out of prison now, he served his time, and he just works a regular job. So... It's tax season. And at Lifelock, we know you're tired of numbers. But here's a big one you need to hear. Billions. That's the amount of money and refunds the IRS has flagged for possible identity fraud.

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Good for him.