SEATTLE (Reuters) - A serial thief nicknamed the "Barefoot Bandit" was sentenced on Friday in Seattle to 6-1/2 years in prison for his guilty plea to federal charges stemming from a sensational, two-year crime spree as a sometimes-shoeless teenage runaway.
The federal judge also ordered that Colton Harris-Moore, 20, who read a statement in court apologizing for his crimes with "acceptance, humility and remorse," serve his federal sentence concurrently with a state term he received in December of more than seven years.
Under terms of the plea deal accepted by the judge, that means Harris-Moore could be released from prison by his 26th birthday.
The proceedings marked the end of an extraordinary two-year saga for Harris-Moore, a high school dropout and self-taught pilot who stayed one step ahead of the law as he broke into homes and stole cars, boats and planes across nine states and British Columbia.
His exploits, which prosecutors said included at least 67 crimes, came to an end when he was captured in the Bahamas in July 2010 after crash-landing a stolen aircraft he had flown to the islands from Indiana.
The 78-month federal prison term he was given on Friday was the maximum he faced for 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.
Last month in state court in Coupeville, Washington, Harris-Moore was sentenced to 87 months for 33 crimes ranging from residential burglary to attempting to elude police.
LUCKY TO BE ALIVE
In a 5-minute statement read before U.S. District Judge Richard Jones pronounced sentence, Harris Moore said, "The lessons learned on the back of my victims are no way an excuse for my crimes."
Asked by the judge what message he would wish to send to young people, Harris-Moore said, "What I did could be called daring, but I'm lucky to be alive."
As part of his plea deal, Harris-Moore agreed to forfeit any profits from the rights to his life story. He has signed a movie deal with 20th Century Fox, setting aside about $1.3 million in proceeds as restitution to his victims.
During his December 16 state sentencing, Island County Superior Court Judge Vickie Churchill called Harris-Moore's case a tragedy but also a "triumph in the human spirit" because of his severely-troubled childhood.
Defense documents filed on Thursday argued Harris-Moore "is at a low risk for re-offending and has the will and interest to make a life for himself as a member of the community."
A small commuter airline has communicated with Harris-Moore "about his future after incarceration," the documents stated. They also cited e-mails from him expressing his ambition to become a pilot.
A 39-page sentencing memorandum filed by prosecutors, however, questioned whether Harris-Moore was truly remorseful.
Prosecutors referred to e-mails and calls by Harris-Moore while in federal detention in which he referred to police as "swine" and "asses," the media as "vermin," and a Washington county prosecutor as a "complete fool."
The defense responded that "quoting and parsing his e-mails is, frankly, nothing more than an inflammatory attempt to use a cognitively impaired adolescent's thoughts against him."
At his state sentencing hearing, Harris-Moore described his childhood, growing up with an alcoholic mother, as one "that I would not wish on my darkest enemies."
(Editing by Steve Gorman, Daniel Trotta and Cynthia Johnston)
