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American teenager Colton Harris-Moore is being hunted by police in the Bahamas after allegedly stealing a plane and flying it from Indiana, the latest in a string of suspected thefts of aircraft, boats and cars. But why has this supposed serial thief and burglar become an internet celebrity?
It's not that unusual for a 19-year-old to have a Facebook page dedicated to his or her adulation, counting 45,000 fans.
But those 19-year-olds are usually singers, musicians, actors or models. Not criminals.
Colton Harris-Moore is famous because he is an outlaw.
THE STORY SO FAR
Absconds from halfway house in April 2008
Accused of burgling holiday homes, stealing food and supplies
Alleged to have stolen first light aircraft in November 2008
May have learnt to fly from manuals and computer games
Suspected of crimes in Washington state, Oregon, Idaho, Indiana, Nebraska, and parts of Canada
Now believed at large in the Bahamas
Measures 6ft 5in tall and just under 15 stone
FBI says he must be considered "armed and dangerous"
Growing up in Camano Island in the north-west of Washington state, Harris-Moore had a difficult childhood.
Frequent run-ins with the law culminated in a three-year sentence of detention, but after early release he absconded from a halfway house in April 2008, and allegedly began a spree of burglaries.
He is accused of repeatedly breaking into empty holiday homes, taking food, stealing electronic items and even using stolen credit cards to get deliveries of items essential for surviving in the woods.
Dubbed the "Barefoot Bandit", he is thought to have carried out many of his alleged offences without shoes.
Colton Harris-Moore is accused of at least three journeys in stolen planes
In November 2008, he allegedly stole a Cessna 182 light aircraft from a hangar on Orcas Island, also in Washington state. Despite never having had a flying lesson he was supposedly able to take off, eventually crash-landing it 300 miles (483km) away.
In September last year, he allegedly stole another plane in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, crash-landing it 260 miles away in Snohomish, Washington.
A number of police forces are seeking the 19-year-old
This week the FBI announced a $10,000 reward for his capture, just as it was alleged that he had stolen yet another light aircraft from an airport in Bloomington, Indiana, before crash-landing off Abaco Island in the Bahamas and beginning another burglary spree.
"You have a kid, diagnosed with ADHD [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder], who never graduated high school, who really never took his formal education seriously, and he taught himself to navigate a plane 1,200 miles from Indiana to the Bahamas," explains Bob Friel, author of an upcoming book on Harris-Moore, Taking Flight.
"It is easy for people who are of a certain anti-authority bent to root for him."
Harris-Moore has allegedly left mock footprints at the scene of his crimes, notes, and on one occasion, a cash donation to be used to help animals.
Survival mode
This cheekiness perhaps explains why in Seattle you can buy T-shirts with Harris-Moore's face accompanied by slogans like "Momma Tried" or "Fly, Colton, Fly".
The most popular image of the burglar was taken on a camera stolen from Carol Star, a neighbour of his mother.
Continue reading the main story
They say the eyes are the windows of the soul - his soul looked very dark
Josh Flickner
Store manager
"He broke into my house three times and stole my Mercedes Benz," she says.
"He has been in trouble since he was eight years old. He is just a common thief. I don't think he is a dangerous person. He is in survival mode."
Josh Flickner, manager of the family-owned Elger Bay general stor
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