— by Lin McNulty —

Because he would like to go to Flight School, Colton Harris Moore launched an online GoFundMe campaign in hopes of raising $125,500 to pay for training in his dream job as a pilot.

Moore, better known locally as the Barefoot Bandit, was captured in the Bahamas in July 2010 after a years-long crime spree, including numerous crimes on Orcas Island, that captured media and public attention. The fund-raising campaign, which netted him $1,450, never really got off the ground, however, before it was shut down by federal probation officials, as he still owes nearly $129,000 in restitution.

In his online plea, Moore stated, “I am a 25 year-old guy, living in Seattle. If you live in Seattle, too, you may know about me from media coverage – even though I have always tried to keep a low-profile.

“I have decided to go against my instict (sic) to not be public, and instead open this project and my goal to the world. My goal is, of course, to fly!”

In December 2011, Moore was sentenced on numerous federal charges, including:

  1. Bank burglary
  2. Interstate transportation of a stolen aircraft
  3. Interstate and foreign transportation of a firearm
  4. Fugitive in possession of a firearm
  5. Piloting an aircraft without a valid pilot’s certificate
  6. Interstate transportation of a stolen vessel
  7. Interstate transportation of a stolen aircraft

“My life is broke down into four levels,” Moore further elaborates in his funding plea. “Childhood, the years when I was ‘on the run’ stealing airplanes, 6 years in jail, and now life as an adult in the free world embarking on the next level of career and pursuit of still more lifelong dreams.”

“Something that I think should be said right out of the gate is that, this is not a sad story. This is about airplanes!” he explains.

Despite the widely reported nickname, officials said that he more often wore shoes, according to his Wikipedia page.

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