Asia-Pacific

Quick guilty plea in 'Barefoot' case in Bahamas

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-07-14 06:18

Colton Harris-Moore, the teenage fugitive police have dubbed the 'Barefoot Bandit,' is escorted handcuffed by Bahamian authorities to the court building in Nassau, Tuesday July 13, 2010. [Agencies]

NASSAU, Bahamas - The American teenager who police call the "Barefoot Bandit" pleaded guilty Tuesday to a minor offense in the Bahamas and will be deported soon to face prosecution for a string of break-ins and plane thefts across the United States.

Colton Harris-Moore pleaded guilty to illegal entering the country at his first court appearance in the Bahamas, where police ended the 19-year-old convict's alleged two-year crime spree by capturing him following a high-speed boat chase.

Related readings:  'Barefoot Bandit' nabbed after 2 years as fugitive

The charge stemming from his alleged crash of a stolen plane on Great Abaco Island carries a $300 fine or three months in jail, followed by deportation. His lawyer, Monique Gomez, said the US Embassy would pay the fine.

"Colton wants to go home," Gomez said.

The shackled teen smiled after the judge read the sentence. Bahamian police had earlier said that he would face other charges including illegal weapons possession related to a string of break-ins and thefts during his weeklong hideout in the country.

Harris-Moore wore white sneakers without laces and kept his head down as armed officers escorted him to the courthouse. A police SWAT team stood by as authorities put up street barricades ahead of the hearing for the celebrity suspect.

Authorities say he earned the "Barefoot Bandit" nickname by committing some crimes while shoeless, and in February he allegedly drew chalk-outline feet all over the floor of a grocery store during a burglary in Washington's San Juan Islands.

Harris-Moore is suspected in about 70 property crimes across eight states and British Columbia, many of them in the bucolic islands of Washington state. He is accused of stealing a plane from an Indiana airport to fly to the Bahamas.

His mother, Pam Kohler, seemed relieved.

"I'm really tired," Kohler said from her home on Camano Island, Washington. "Yes, I look forward to seeing him."

Asked what she planned to say to her son when she saw him, she said angrily, "What kind of question is that?" and hung up the phone.

His arrest came as a relief to people across rural Camano Island, where authorities say he learned to dodge police.

"There's a lot of relief throughout the community," said real estate agent Mark Williams. "I think the man's luck just wore out. You run through the woods long enough, you're going to trip over a log."