Search for bandit intensifies

MARSH HARBOUR, Bahamas – The wily resourcefulness of a fugitive teenage thief was on display again Thursday as he eluded an intensifying manhunt on a sparsely populated island in the Bahamas – while earning some grudging respect from locals.

Soldiers in camouflage uniforms and police armed with shotguns fanned out with German shepherds as the search for Colton Harris-Moore entered its fifth day on Great Abaco Island, where police believe the so-called “Barefoot Bandit” has been hiding out since ditching a stolen plane offshore. Authorities suspect he has been hiding in thick groves of trees and emerging at night to break into homes and shops and steal provisions.

“We are intensifying our search and we are going to be relentless until we catch him,” Assistant Police Commissioner Glenn Miller said.

As the 19-year-old fugitive continues to evade the island-wide dragnet, some of Abaco’s 16,000 residents have expressed the same admiration that Harris-Moore has won in corners of the United States during his two-year run from the law. Since escaping from a halfway house, he has become a folk hero of sorts, with escapes allegedly involving stolen cars, boats and airplanes.

“I tip my hat to the fellow,” said Clayton Sands, a 54-year-old Bahamian who, like nearly everyone else, has been following every twist in the case. “For him to duck and dodge the police in two countries at 19, that’s impressive.”

Wanted posters featuring the blue-eyed, 6-foot, 5-inch teen have been plastered across this one-stoplight sailing town, where tourists and locals debated prospects for the fugitive’s capture.

“I don’t think they’re going to get him. He’s not going to come out in the daytime,” said Andrew Gates, 42, a heavy-equipment operator.

The few people who have crossed paths with Harris-Moore say he does not seem nervous.

Bartender Colby Curry said the fugitive entered his sports bar Tuesday evening, drank a locally made Kalik beer and left after five minutes. He said Harris-More was wearing a cap over a shaved head, and no shoes.

“He was really calm,” said Curry, who only realized it was the fugitive after police called the bar because Harris-Moore had been reported in the area.

But there are limits to the warm island vibe. The Bahamas is a socially conservative society and Abaco is unaccustomed to crime, so Harris-Moore should not be able to count on prolonged tolerance.

Police and soldiers were patrolling the island’s coastlines and airports – potential escape routes – as investigators followed a trail of seven break-ins leading north from the mangrove-lined inlet where the Cessna was abandoned Sunday in knee-deep water. The FBI has offered a $10,000 reward for his capture, and the island chain’s government dispatched detectives from the capital, Nassau.

The FBI’s wanted poster warns that he might possess stolen firearms and should be considered dangerous.

Last year, Washington state deputies responding to a break-in near where Harris-Moore allegedly crashed a stolen plane pulled back on their search after hearing a gunshot.

Miller said Harris-Moore could be hiding in the buttonwood trees and other vegetation that cover Abaco, a mostly undeveloped, 650-square-mile island that is about half the size of Rhode Island. Unconfirmed sightings of him in the bush have been reported as recently as Wednesday night.

Police have released few details of the investigation, in part to keep Harris-Moore from gaining any more popularity than he already has.

“We don’t want him to be in the Bahamas as a celebrity. We are trying to demystify (him), so when he leaves, he leaves here in custody with the American law enforcement personnel,” said Hulan Hanna, an assistant police superintendent.

An experienced outdoorsman, Harris-Moore grew up in the woods of Camano Island in Puget Sound and quickly ran afoul of the law. Within a few months of turning 13, he had been sentenced to 10-day stints in detention or community service at least four times for a series of thefts.