The Barefoot Bandit.
Well, a halfway house is a place where stubborn children who use drugs disturb estates and villagers are taken to stay as they are rehabilitated. In the year 2008, there was a young man called Colton Moore, a 16year old 6’5 and 200 pounds young man who was taken there to be rehabilitated.
It came one day when the lights went off. As happens in prison they go off in a sequence along the corridors. The furthest goes off first, Colton hears the lights have gone off. The guards go to check out the issue. Colton got an opportunity to escape the halfway house since he had been working at the windows and managed to make a way out. In the middle of the night, he jumps through the window and runs to the nearby neighborhood as if there was not tomorrow. He finds someone who parked a Mercedes ‘carelessly.’ He decided to keep it for him since the man did not recognize its worth.
He gets in the Mercedes and starts the engine. He is at the greatest speed since he is on the run as he wants to go far away from the halfway house as soon as possible. He looks at the rare mirror. What does he see‽‽‽
Boom!!!!! The police were right behind him as the siren became louder as they approached him. He accelerates and drives away but unfortunately; he crashes into someone’s garage. He alights the car and finds the police have surrounded him since they had called for backup. Colton saw a forest nearby. Before the police came out of their cars, Colton ran into the woods.
Reports came to the police that the guy they were chasing all night was none other than Colton Harris aka the barefoot bandit. He used to walk barefooted everywhere he went. The following day a heavily armed tactical team searched the area where Colton was last seen. The special team instead underestimated the capability of the teenager.
A week later the restaurants, shops, houses, Cafes are being robbed terribly. “Ooh Colton!” He even robbed firefighters from a fire station. What can you really steal from a fire station‽‽
He went there and took an infrared camera. What is the importance of an infrared camera to his operations‽‽‽ On his daily operations he used the camera to know whether someone in the house and what is inside. Colton broke into their homes and took what he needed and left peacefully. People could come back home from work and find that someone had entered their homes. They could pray to thank God when they found that everything was there as they left for work.
Besides this, he had a passion for aviation. He visioned himself flying an aero plane one day. At 16, he already knew that no matter what he must fly a plane. So, what comes to his mind‽‽‽ “Ahaa, there are people making aero plane manuals online. This is practical. What do I need to buy them‽ A credit card. I need to have one.”
There is a nearby café that bakes, and I often see them with several credit cards. Tonight, he waits for people to leave the café and go home. Once everyone has left, he gets in through the roof, gets down, heads to the safe. He looks for what took him there. As he was opening the drawers, he found the credit cards and left the café immediately.
All this time he has been robbing supermarkets, different stores, he has been equipping himself with a mattress, tent and fast foods like sausages and noodles. Now he has the credit cards. He purchases the manuals for Cessna aircraft where he wanted to become an expert at it. “When I purchase it online, they will ask me where I want the manual to be delivered. Where is the best place‽‽ Since I stole the credit cards from the café, I will say it to be delivered there.”
He waits for everyone to go home and goes to pick up the manual. As usual he breaks into the café through the roof, goes down to pick up the manual and leaves immediately. It was now time to study to fly a plane, his lifetime passion.
Since work without play makes Jack a dull boy, what was he doing to pass time during the day‽ He loves stealing vehicles from people and drives them as he enjoyed himself. However, he takes the car, makes some trips, washes it, and returns it when it is refilled with petrol. People found it hard to report since the car which was stolen was returned washed, cleaned, and refilled with petrol. He was humane!!!!!!
One day, Colton ran out of foodstuffs. He identified a house which was used as a vacation home. He asks his friend to accompany him to the mission. Eventually he accepted regardless of panicking. He gets in, switches on the lights, goes to the kitchen, opens the fridge. Just before he took sandwiches, burgers, and some juice, he hears lights switched on in the next room. The sound that followed the switch was that of…Those of a Glock being cocked. “Colton, you have been such a bother in this city, on your knees and raise your hands. I want to take you to the police station,” the Washington police said. “You should go back to where you belong.” Colton pleads to take a glass of juice before being taken to the police station. He takes the glass and drops it to the floor. Before the officer looked at the pieces of glass and backed up, Colton was gone, and ran back to the forest. His friend was inspired by how fast Colton ran and it gave him motivation to keep up with him. The officer tried to catch him, but all his efforts were futile. Even though they escaped they were unable to grab some food stuffs. This did not astonish him since he could find some in a way.
The following day, he takes someone’s truck which was abandoned and heads to the airport. He walks to the fence and watches planes take off and land. He noticed that they do not lock the planes. They just leave the keys inside and go home!!
In his mind he knew that small airports do not work at night, people leave and go home at a particular time. “Tomorrow are the practicals.” He went back to his ‘home.’
The D-day came and, in the evening, took his way to the airport. As was the norm, he took a car which was parked on the road and went to the airport. He waited for everyone to leave the site. He goes under the fence, enters one the planes, puts on the safety belt and starts its engine. Since there was no one in the control tower, he aligns the plane on the runway and takes off. Everything looked good up there but a while longer, the plane signaled some errors. He was approximately 14000 ft higher and at this point he could not use the hazard sign. He tries pressing some buttons, but it gets worser. He tried pulling the flaps at the back, OMG it crashed in the forest but fortunately he got off the plane.
People became aware of a plane crashing in the forest, though they had no clue it was Colton since he was a 16-year-old. The airport crew just knew that there was a plane missing.
He relaxed for a few days. Then something told him that he had missed some practicals. In the evening, he left for the airport. This time the plane was parked in a hanger. “But they do not lock the hanger.” He opens the hanger and pulls the plane with his bare hands a distance out of the hanger. He gets in opens the door, enters, starts the plane taking it to the runway and takes off. Colton takes a perfect flight and manages to make a good landing at a different airport. There was no damage to the plane. The boy is continuing to sharpen his skills. He got out of the plane and left the airport.
The boy was seen walking barefooted as he took the plane from the hanger since there were CCTV cameras inside. The crew were in disbelief when they saw it was the barefoot bandit who used to steal planes from the airport. Colton heard that the US government was not going to use regular police, but they were deploying (SWAT) to perform the operation.
The boy started gaining fame and people respected him. People started writing song about him and printed T-shirt written “Barefoot Bandit.”
Colton decided to leave the country and headed to Canada. As he was walking barefoot in the streets, he met three guys with a van. He helped them to fix the van and they decided to accommodate him for a night and gave him food to eat. Colton woke up the following day and left.
After a few weeks, Colton went back to the US and went back to the forest. He decided to stop stealing cars but instead to relocate and start sleeping inside the airport. He made a sleeping area inside a hanger of a rich man who built a prestigious house inside the airport. Colton used to break into his house and fetch what was in the fridge. Eventually the millionaire discovered that things are not normal. Without a second thought the millionaire calls his ally who is a SWAT, informs him about the recent visits and the friends organizes his team.
Colton, “It has been a while since I have done some practicals.” That night he goes to the airport. He takes a plane and flies it. While he was 15000 ft higher, he sees a clear place where he can land the plane. As he was coming down 10000ft lower, he saw he was in the middle of the forest. As he approached landing, he noted that there were tree stamps left on the ground. He tried to raise the nose, but the tail hit the stamps, it was hard to fly it higher again. It crashed in the forest and luckily Colton got out of the plane.
He went back to the hanger. Since he was hungry, he decided to visit the millionaire’s house. When he switched on the lights and opened the door, he saw 7 SWAT guys pointing muzzles at him. He immediately switches off the lights and shuts the door and heads to the forest.
Later, he takes his last practicals. He takes the planes and makes some navigations and found out that the fuel could only take him to Bahamas.
Colton started bragging about his identity and fame in the US and that he was the most wanted. He dared some beach boys that if anyone could catch him, he was to be rewarded $1,000,000.
The beach boys were there saying “We do not know you. Why should we chase you‽” But there were texting each other and ordered for the boat to come. Suddenly he sees a boat full of people coming towards him at an extremely high speed. He noticed the chase had begun.
In marine bodies, there is patch of sand that reduces the depth of the water. Fortunately, Colton manages to get the boat off the sand. The police started shooting since they knew when they let him go, they could not find him easily. Colton eventually surrendered since the shootings were so intense. The police took him and kept him behind bars.
Colton was extradited back to the US government. He terrorized people for 2 years (2008-2010). Indeed, the Bahamian Police did what US were unable to do.
He was taken to court and the judge listened to him a sentenced him 6 years of imprisonment.
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