Barefoot Bandit: Government sentencing memo

5 MB·

by  U.S. Attorney's Office, Seattle

Case 2:10-cr-00336-RAJ Document 57 Filed 01/24/12 Page 1 of 39
1 The Hon. Richard A. Jones
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
9 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON
AT SEATTLE
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) No. CR10-336-RAJ
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Plaintiff, )
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) GOVERNMENT’S SENTENCING
v. ) MEMORANDUM
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COLTON HARRIS-MOORE, )
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Defendant. )
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I. INTRODUCTION
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The United States of America, by and through Jenny A. Durkan, United States
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Attorney for the Western District of Washington, and Darwin P. Roberts and Michael
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Dion, Assistant United States Attorneys for said District, hereby submits this Sentencing
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Memorandum in the above-captioned matter. Sentencing is scheduled for Friday, January
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27, 2012, at 9:00 a.m. For the reasons described below, the United States agrees with all
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of U.S. Probation’s sentencing recommendations, including a 78 month term of
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imprisonment. That term falls in the middle of the Guidelines range calculated by U.S.
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Probation, and near the low end of the Guidelines range calculated by the United States.
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Facing very strong evidence against him, Colton Harris-Moore has pled guilty to
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seven federal crimes he committed in 2009 and 2010. They include a bank burglary; the
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UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
GOVERNMENT’S SENTENCING MEMORANDUM/HARRIS-MOORE 700 Stewart Street, Suite 5220
Seattle, Washington 98101-1271
Case No. CR10-336-RAJ - 1
[phone]
Case 2:10-cr-00336-RAJ Document 57 Filed 01/24/12 Page 2 of 39
1 interstate transportation of two stolen aircraft and one stolen vessel; piloting another
2 (stolen) aircraft without a license; and two firearms offenses involving stolen handguns.
3 In his Plea Agreement (Dkt #50), Mr. Harris-Moore also acknowledged, as relevant
4 conduct, at least twenty-seven other crimes that he committed outside the State of
5 Washington. Most prominently, in May, June, and July, 2010, he committed a string of
6 offenses as he traveled through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, and
7 Iowa, including nine auto thefts and eight burglaries. Among these were a residential
8 burglary in South Dakota. During that burglary, Mr. Harris-Moore was discovered by the
9 homeowner, and threatened to shoot the homeowner in order to make his escape.
10 On December 16, 2011, Mr. Harris-Moore appeared in the Superior Court of
11 Washington for Island County, where he pled guilty to 33 additional felony charges
12 committed between 2008 and 2010 in Island, San Juan, and Snohomish Counties. This
13 means that a combined total of at least 67 crimes by Mr. Harris-Moore are being
14 recognized in the state and federal proceedings. Mr. Harris-Moore committed all of these
15 crimes in a single 27-month span, during which he was a fugitive from a Washington
16 juvenile sentence. The combined total of restitution owed by Mr. Harris-Moore, for the
17 damages he caused, will be not less than $1,271,236.60.
18 As he appears for sentencing by this Court, Mr. Harris-Moore has written a letter
19 acknowledging his crimes and apologizing to his victims. He has agreed to forfeit the
20 intellectual property rights to the story of his crimes, for the purpose of funding restitution
21 to victims. He has presented mitigation materials that discuss his unquestionably difficult
22 childhood. He has obtained a report from a medical expert concluding that he has been
23 affected by fetal alcohol syndrome, and that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder
24 caused by his near-fatal first airplane theft in 2008.
25 The United States submits that despite Mr. Harris-Moore’s guilty pleas, his letter
26 accepting responsibility, and his arguments for mitigation, Mr. Harris-Moore should
27 receive the full 78-month sentence recommended by the United States and U.S.
28 Probation. There are several reasons for this. They include the prolonged and deliberate
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
GOVERNMENT’S SENTENCING MEMORANDUM/HARRIS-MOORE 700 Stewart Street, Suite 5220
Seattle, Washington 98101-1271
Case No. CR10-336-RAJ - 2
[phone]
Case 2:10-cr-00336-RAJ Document 57 Filed 01/24/12 Page 3 of 39
1 nature of his crimes, which were committed solely for his own amusement and profit; his
2 repeated willingness to use violence and the threat of violence, with stolen guns, to avoid
3 capture; serious questions, as revealed by his private statements, concerning the sincerity
4 of his acceptance of responsibility; and the overall reasonableness of the recommended
5 sentence, given the very high number of crimes acknowledged through this case.
6 First, the evidence proves that Mr. Harris-Moore’s criminal odyssey was carefully
7 planned and entirely intentional. Mr. Harris-Moore attempts to whitewash his actions as
8 all part of his childhood dream of flying, but his aircraft thefts were merely the showiest
9 parts of his crime spree. Mr. Harris-Moore took deliberate, focused action to enrich and
10 entertain himself at others’ expense, while evading capture for as long as possible. There
11 is evidence suggesting Harris-Moore had long planned to steal as much money as he
12 could while permanently escaping to the Caribbean in a stolen aircraft. To this end, he
13 tried to build up a cash hoard by repeatedly burglarizing businesses and attacking their
14 safes and ATMs. Meanwhile, he used stolen computers to hone his flying skills, research
15 his future crimes, check up on the police trying to catch him, check his following on the
16 Internet, and (likely) communicate with supporters.
17 Second, Mr. Harris-Moore used force or the threat of force to evade capture on
18 multiple occasions. These included his threat to shoot the homeowner who discovered
19 him in South Dakota; firing a shot to stop sheriff’s deputies chasing him near Granite
20 Falls; and pepper spraying a deputy to avoid capture on Orcas Island. Mr. Harris-Moore
21 also stole at least three semiautomatic handguns and a police assault rifle during his time
22 on the run. This helped him evade law enforcement by making officers warier of him,
23 and caused additional fear for his victims and their neighbors. All of this created many
24 dangerous situations in which Mr. Harris-Moore, or someone else, could have been hurt
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26 Third, there are good reasons to question whether Mr. Harris-Moore’s public
27 expressions of remorse and acceptance of responsibility are entirely genuine. Many of his
28 private statements take a tone that is quite different from his Letter to the Court. For
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
GOVERNMENT’S SENTENCING MEMORANDUM/HARRIS-MOORE 700 Stewart Street, Suite 5220
Seattle, Washington 98101-1271
Case No. CR10-336-RAJ - 3
[phone]
Case 2:10-cr-00336-RAJ Document 57 Filed 01/24/12 Page 4 of 39
1 example, after his Superior Court sentencing on December 16, he declared that the state’s
2 case against him was “high propaganda” and “weak argument”; called his sentencing
3 “political,” meant to “appease” the “citizens and sheriffs”; and called the prosecution and
4 police “swine,” “fools” and “asses.” He called the Superior Court’s pronouncement of a
5 low-end sentence “a much appreciated recognition and validation.” His Letter to the
6 Court asserts that he does not want to “glamorize” anything he has done, but in private, he
7 described his flights as “amazing” and compared himself to “the Wright brothers.”
8 Fourth, and finally, the recommended 78-month sentence is entirely fair in light of
9 the facts and circumstances of the case. The Plea Agreement takes Mr. Harris-Moore’s
10 mitigating circumstances into account by allowing him to consolidate dozens of his
11 crimes into this sentencing. A 78-month sentence is within the middle of the range
12 calculated by U.S. Probation just for the offenses charged in the Superseding Information,
13 not including the other offenses listed here as relevant conduct. It is near the low end of
14 the range calculated by the United States. Mr. Harris-Moore already obtained similar
15 benefits from consolidating dozens of additional crimes in Superior Court. He should not
16 receive any further “breaks.”
17 Mr. Harris-Moore’s troubled childhood does not excuse the fact that he committed
18 scores of felonies out of pure self-interest and greed. During his time “on the run,” he
19 fully understood that his crimes were wrong, but he still chose to inflict them on others.
20 The United States endorses U.S. Probation’s recommendation of a 78 month sentence of
21 imprisonment, in the middle of U.S. Probation’s calculated Guidelines range. The United
22 States also agrees with U.S. Probation that the federal sentence should be imposed
23 consecutive to the undischarged state sentence that Mr. Harris-Moore previously escaped
24 from, so that his flight to the Bahamas will not be rewarded with a discount on his total
25 term of imprisonment. The United States further endorses the maximum three year term
26 of supervised release, with all the special conditions recommended by U.S. Probation.
27 Finally, the United States requests that the Court enter the Preliminary Order of
28 Forfeiture, and impose the government’s proposed Order of Restitution.
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
GOVERNMENT’S SENTENCING MEMORANDUM/HARRIS-MOORE 700 Stewart Street, Suite 5220
Seattle, Washington 98101-1271
Case No. CR10-336-RAJ - 4
[phone]
Case 2:10-cr-00336-RAJ Document 57 Filed 01/24/12 Page 5 of 39
1 II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND
2 The essential facts of this case are accurately outlined in the Presentence Report
3 (“PSR”). In order to fully illustrate the scope of Mr. Harris-Moore’s relevant criminal
4 conduct, the United States submits the following statement of facts.1
5 A. Mr. Harris-Moore’s Account of his Crimes
6 Mr. Harris-Moore has submitted a Letter to the Court (undated, but filed in state
7 court approximately December 13, 2011). His narrative explaining how and why he
8 committed his crimes focuses almost exclusively on what he calls the “personal journey
9 that would pit me face to face with my own mortality,” namely, his preparation to steal
10 his first airplane, on November 11, 2008. Letter to the Court, at 2. After escaping from
11 juvenile custody on April 29, 2008, Mr. Harris-Moore states that he spent the summer
12 living at a “mountain campsite” on Orcas Island. There, he says, he bicycled daily to
13 Eastsound to observe airport operations, while training himself how to fly light aircraft,
14 using videos and stolen manuals. Id. Mr. Harris-Moore omits that during this period, he
15 burglarized a number of Orcas Island residences and businesses. These included his theft
16 of $10,000 from a restaurant safe in Eastsound around August 27, 2008, and his
17 September 25 pepper spraying of a sheriff’s deputy who was trying to apprehend him
18 while he burglarized a house near his campsite.
19 Mr. Harris-Moore describes at length how, on November 11, he “discover[ed] both
20 passion and . . . a dream” by stealing his first aircraft, flying it through bad weather and
21 going into an uncontrolled spin, before recovering through “second-nature skill” and
22 “ma[king] it out of a situation all odds said I shouldn’t have.” Letter to the Court, at 2-3.
23 His narrative ends with him still airborne, leaving out that shortly afterwards, he crashed
24 and ruined the $182,000 airplane (see photographs, below). He concludes that:
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26 1 Unless specifically noted otherwise, all the facts described below are based on the Plea
Agreement, the Presentence Report, Mr. Harris-Moore’s Dec. 16 pleas in Island, San Juan, and
27 Snohomish Counties, and the evidence provided to Mr. Harris-Moore in discovery. In the event
that Mr. Harris-Moore contests any of the facts described in this Memorandum, the United States
28 will supplement the record with appropriate evidence.
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
GOVERNMENT’S SENTENCING MEMORANDUM/HARRIS-MOORE 700 Stewart Street, Suite 5220
Seattle, Washington 98101-1271
Case No. CR10-336-RAJ - 5
[phone]
Case 2:10-cr-00336-RAJ Document 57 Filed 01/24/12 Page 6 of 39
1 The morning of November 11, 2008 changed my life forever . . . opened my
mind and gave me insight into not only myself, but the world; valuable life
2 lessons that I believe I couldn’t have learned any other way.

3 Letter to the Court, at 3.
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Yakama Reservation, November 12, 2008
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Mr. Harris-Moore’s letter offers no specific explanation for any of the dozens of
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felonies he committed after his 2008 flight. Essentially, he claims that his actions were
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“immature” and he did not understand “their life-long ramifications.” He states that he
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did not believe at the time that he was truly frightening his victims, and declares:
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Your Honor, I don’t know where I could have broken the cycle. Each step
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of the way, I felt that I was more and more entrenched with a path, and the
situation had taken a life of its own. Tainted mistakes of my past, which
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snowballed into new crimes to sustain my present, and while I tried to
distract myself with the dreams of the future, I am before you know paying
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for all these mistakes.
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Letter to the Court, at 1, 3. In evaluating whether Mr. Harris-Moore genuinely felt
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himself haplessly “entrenched with a path” in a “situation” that “had taken [on] a life of
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its own,” it is useful to review the evidence of what he actually did during this time.
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B. Mr. Harris-Moore’s Crimes in 2009
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Mr. Harris-Moore disappeared for some time after the November 2008 plane theft,
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and seems to have spent time living in Reno. Presentence Report, ¶ 14; Harris-Moore
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email to P.R., August 17, 2011. He returned to Washington by June, 2009, when he stole
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an AR-15 type rifle from a deputy’s patrol car on Camano Island. In August 2009, he
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traveled to Orcas Island in a boat he stole from La Conner. Presentence Report, ¶ 14.
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UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
GOVERNMENT’S SENTENCING MEMORANDUM/HARRIS-MOORE 700 Stewart Street, Suite 5220
Seattle, Washington 98101-1271
Case No. CR10-336-RAJ - 6
[phone]
Case 2:10-cr-00336-RAJ Document 57 Filed 01/24/12 Page 7 of 39
1 Beginning in September, Mr. Harris-Moore committed a number of nighttime
2 burglaries at various businesses in the Eastsound area. On September 4, 2009, he broke
3 into the Ace Hardware and stole a selection of tools, including a sledgehammer, crowbar
4 and drill bits. He also broke open the store’s safe and stole approximately $2,000.00 in
5 cash that had been stored in black Key Bank bags. Presentence Report, ¶¶ 14-15.
6 The next evening was the night of Friday the 4th to Saturday the 5th, the beginning
7 of Labor Day weekend. Mr. Harris-Moore took the tools he had stolen from Ace
8 Hardware and broke into Islanders Bank, knocking out a window that (at the time) lacked
9 an alarm (Count 1). Using the Ace tools, and a drill stolen from the Homegrown Market,
10 he attacked the ATM safe and attempted to break it open. He knocked off the
11 combination dial and drilled several holes in the safe. He could not open the safe, but
12 caused over $1000.00 in damage to the bank and the safe. Presentence Report, ¶ 15.
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Eastsound, Orcas Island, September 5, 2009:
Burglary at Islanders Bank (Count 1)
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22 Having failed to steal any money from the bank, Mr. Harris-Moore moved on to other
23 targets. On September 8, he broke into the nearby Island Market grocery store, and tried
24 but failed to break open (or cart away) its ATM. On September 9, he stole a $50,000 boat
25 and traveled to San Juan Island, leaving the boat adrift off of Friday Harbor, which
26 caused it $17,000 in damage. On the morning of September 11, 2011, he stole his second
27 aircraft, a Cirrus SR22, from the Friday Harbor airport. This SR22, valued at $700,000,
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UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
GOVERNMENT’S SENTENCING MEMORANDUM/HARRIS-MOORE 700 Stewart Street, Suite 5220
Seattle, Washington 98101-1271
Case No. CR10-336-RAJ - 7
[phone]
Case 2:10-cr-00336-RAJ Document 57 Filed 01/24/12 Page 8 of 39
1 the primary system on which Mr. Harris-Moore trained himself to fly. He flew the Cirrus
2 back to Eastsound, approximately 12 miles, and caused more than $8,000 in damage to it
3 by running it off the runway and across the grass at high speed. Presentence Report, ¶ 16.
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Eastsound, Sept. 2009: Island Market burglary with Ace Hardware crowbar
(Sept. 8); Cirrus stolen from Friday Harbor, landing gear damaged (Sept. 11)
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13 On September 12, Mr. Harris-Moore eluded a deputy in a foot chase in Eastsound,
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15 Orcas Island, piloted it north to Point Roberts, left the boat adrift, and crossed on foot into
16 Canada. In Canada, he stole a BMW and drove eastward. Presentence Report, ¶¶ 16-17.
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Boat stolen from Orcas Island, Sept. 12, recovered drifting off Point Roberts;
BMW stolen from Delta, BC, recovered at Creston, BC
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A witness who knew Mr. Harris-Moore reported to the FBI that around this time,
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he received two telephone calls from Harris-Moore. This witness’s statements, made in
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late 2009, were consistent with what is now known about Harris-Moore’s actions. The
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UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
GOVERNMENT’S SENTENCING MEMORANDUM/HARRIS-MOORE 700 Stewart Street, Suite 5220
Seattle, Washington 98101-1271
Case No. CR10-336-RAJ - 8
[phone]
Case 2:10-cr-00336-RAJ Document 57 Filed 01/24/12 Page 9 of 39
1 witness, “W,” reported that during the first call, in September of 2009, Harris-Moore told
2 “W” that he wanted to arrange a meeting, with “W” and another person, in Canada; that
3 he had recently tried to steal an ATM, but failed; and that he had traveled to Canada by
4 using a stolen boat to get from “the islands” to Point Roberts.
5 In the second call, which “W” believed was a short time after the first, Harris-
6 Moore told “W” that he had stolen an airplane; that he had stolen airplanes before; and
7 that he had learned to fly using a simulator game on a stolen laptop computer. Harris-
8 Moore also stated that his mother wanted him to turn himself in to police, but that he was
9 “blowing off” this advice, he did not want to go back to jail, was trying to obtain a false
10 identity, and was interested in obtaining firearms. “W” also reported to the FBI (in 2009)
11 that Harris-Moore had told him he eventually intended to steal a jet and fly to the Cayman
12 Islands, where he wanted to rob an unspecified “rich guy.”
13 Around Friday, September 25, 2009, Mr. Harris-Moore arrived in Creston, British
14 Columbia, just north of Idaho. He abandoned the BMW he had stolen from Delta, BC,
15 and burglarized the Creston Airport. He moved a Cessna 182 but failed to start it. From
16 a file cabinet in a hangar, he stole a Dell laptop computer, $200 in cash and a .32 caliber
17 semiautomatic pistol. Presentence Report, ¶ 18. Around September 27, Harris-Moore
18 stole a Toyota to travel the short distance to the United States border, which he crossed on
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Creston Airport, Creston, BC (Stolen pistol, Count 3);
Burglarized hangar, Boundary County Airport, Bonners Ferry, ID (Count 2)
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UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
GOVERNMENT’S SENTENCING MEMORANDUM/HARRIS-MOORE 700 Stewart Street, Suite 5220
Seattle, Washington 98101-1271
Case No. CR10-336-RAJ - 9
[phone]
Case 2:10-cr-00336-RAJ Document 57 Filed 01/24/12 Page 10 of 39
1 Just over the border, Mr. Harris-Moore stole another car, drove it south and
2 abandoned it near the Boundary County Airport outside Bonners Ferry, Idaho. He
3 burglarized hangars at the airport on September 28 and September 29. On Tuesday the
4 29th, he stole a G-1000 equipped Cessna T182T that belonged to P.G. (Count 2).
5 Presentence Report, ¶ 19.
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Flight path of Cessna N2183P, September 29, 2009 (Count 2)
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Taking off around 6:00 in the morning, Mr. Harris-Moore flew the Cessna south
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around Spokane and then west. The flight lasted for about four hours, until he ran out of
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fuel and crashed the plane in Snohomish County, in a clearcut field east of Granite Falls.
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Presentence Report, ¶¶ 19-20; see photograph, below.
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Mr. Harris-Moore fled only a few miles from the site of the plane crash. On the
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outskirts of Granite Falls, he broke into the house of the G. family, who were not home at
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the time. Rifling the house, he stole a comforter, food and clothing, and passports. He
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also stole a .22 caliber semiautomatic pistol (Count 4), and carried these items to a
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makeshift camp in the woods behind the house. Presentence Report, ¶ 20.
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UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
GOVERNMENT’S SENTENCING MEMORANDUM/HARRIS-MOORE 700 Stewart Street, Suite 5220
Seattle, Washington 98101-1271
Case No. CR10-336-RAJ - 10
[phone]