And they missed him again.
Story LinkAnother futile search for the 'Barefoot bandit'A 35-member search team combed Orcas Island for 14 hours Thursday after a possible sighting of 18-year-old fugitive Colton Harris-Moore. The cops came up empty-handed once again.
By Erik Lacitis
ISLAND COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
Colton Harris-Moore continues to elude authorities and captivate the news media.
ORCAS ISLAND — Another possible Colton Harris-Moore sighting, another manhunt — this time with a 35-member search team that included FBI agents, tracking dogs, a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol chopper and cops from two counties.
And after 14 hours of searching on Thursday they all came up ... empty-handed.
Now the San Juan County Sheriff's Office is awaiting the question that will inevitably be asked by the media types from New York City, said Undersheriff Jon Zerby.
Not just them, but media worldwide are fascinated by the 18-year-old "Barefoot Bandit," so nicknamed — by the media, of course — because Harris-Moore allegedly committed some of his break-ins sans shoes.
In the past year or so, Harris-Moore is suspected of some 50 burglaries and thefts, including more than a dozen in San Juan County. He is also a suspect in the thefts of at least three small airplanes.
Some in law enforcement theorize he may have taught himself to fly by reading flight manuals or searching the Internet.
Harris-Moore is suspected of stealing a $600,000 Cirrus SR22 last month. It was flown from Anacortes to Orcas Island, where it ended up in mud off the runway at the island's little airport.
And the question the media types will ask? " 'How come you can't catch this guy?' " said Zerby.
Out-of-towners just don't know how easy it is to hide in the islands, explained Zerby as he stood outside the sheriff's substation on the outskirts of Eastsound.
"Look at all these woods," said Zerby, pointing at the green hills dotted with isolated homes. "What have we got here? Fifty-six square miles, and then you have all the waterfront and all the marinas."
And, he said, on this island of 5,000 people, there are plenty of vacation homes that are sparingly used.
"There are hundreds of vacant homes in which nobody's around," said Zerby.
Deputies from San Juan aren't alone. Harris-Moore has managed to avoid capture by sheriff's deputies from Snohomish and Island counties as well.
Harris-Moore has theft convictions going back to 2004 when he was 12. He was arrested in 2007 and convicted on three counts of first-degree residential burglary in Island County, but has been a fugitive since walking away from a Renton juvenile facility in April 2008.
Thursday's manhunt started at 1:15 a.m. on the rugged west side of Orcas Island.
Zerby said a homeowner near Red Cross Quarry Road reported someone fitting Harris-Moore's description "trying to break into the house in the middle of the night."
The Sheriff's Office said "multiple mainland agencies were deployed," including dog-tracking teams from Whatcom and Snohomish counties, "tracking personnel" from the Marysville Police Department, a Customs chopper with "advanced detection equipment" and FBI agents.
Fred Gutt, an FBI special agent at the Seattle office, confirmed that agents assisted, although he did not provide details.
Kyle Ater, owner of the Orcas Homegrown Market and Gourmet Delicatessen, which was broken into early the morning of Feb. 11, drove around and hiked on the island areas where the manhunt was going on.
Ater has a special interest in Harris-Moore. He says $1,200 was taken from his cash registers during the break-in, and the computer that connected to his monitoring cameras in the store was kicked around and eventually left soaking in stainless steel tub.
Ater estimated his total losses at more than $6,500.
Since the break-in, Ater says he sleeps on the floor of the deli to protect it.
"Absolutely we want him caught," said Ater about Harris-Moore. "We're just tired of all this."
Ater watched as search helicopters buzzed around the 16,000-acre Turtleback Mountain Preserve, and he saw law-enforcement personnel in fatigues carrying rifles "going through the bushes."
Undersheriff Zerby said there had been three calls Thursday from individuals who thought they had spotted Harris-Moore, who stands 6-feet-5 and weighs about 210 pounds.
As happened many times before, the tips didn't pan out, said Zerby.
"People have trouble judging height," he said, and think that the 6-foot, 30-year-old they saw is a 6-5, 18-year-old.
By 3 p.m., the Sheriff's Office said it had "officially scaled down the search."
Ater said he wouldn't be surprised if Harris-Moore had managed to elude the cops again.
"He's young, he's strong, he's got intention," said Ater. "Intention is what you need in karate. If you intend to put your hand through wood, you will. If not, you'll break your hand.
"He's got intention. He's running at top speed straight up a mountain. And then you have the sheriff's people, people your age, my age. It's hard to catch somebody who's running, when you're walking."
Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report.