‘Barefoot Bandit' speaks about past, dying mother, from jail

ABERDEEN, Wash. — Colton Harris-Moore, the former teenage car, boat and plane thief who became known as the "Barefoot Bandit,” spoke about his mother Thursday from jail.

He's reaching out to the media with a plea to help save his mother, who he says is dying of cancer.

KIRO 7's Jeff Dubois went through the interview he gave to KIRO Radio. (Full KIRO Radio interview is in video above).

It’s the first time the public has ever heard from Harris-Moore, who sounded sincere and articulate.

Now 25 years old, he's apologetic for his three-year crime spree.

“The past is the past. I made a lot of mistakes in my youth, and I'm all grown up now, and it's pretty much as simple as that.  You make mistakes, you live, you learn, and you move on."

Moore called KIRO Radio's Ron and Don Show Thursday from the Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen, where he's serving a six-year sentence.

He talked about how he didn't know how famous he had become while he was breaking into homes and businesses and stealing planes and boats. He claims he never wanted the notoriety and was just trying to get by, stealing food at times, because he was hungry and didn't have any other way to eat while on the run.

He said he didn't hear any of the reports and didn't know he'd been dubbed the Barefoot Bandit for leaving his footprints at some of the crime scenes.

Harris-Moore bristles when people criticize his mother’s parenting for what he did.

"But I made my own choices and I lived with the consequences of my choices. I don't blame anything on anybody. I feel sadness for her. I don't hold anything against her, and I don't think anyone else should either,” said Harris-Moore.

He says his mother, Pam, is dying of lung cancer and has only 3 or 4 weeks to live.

"It's to the point now where, you talk with her, and she has the sound of death in her voice, and I've never heard that before. And it breaks my heart, it’s absolutely a tragedy, and the doctors have no interest in treating her,” said Harris-Moore.

Harris-Moore didn't go into details about his mother’s doctors. Instead, he thinks his mother's best hope is to be put into a deep freeze that preserves the body and vital organs, a process called cryopreservation that essentially puts the body on pause. The hope is that advances in medical technology will allow her to be revived and her cancer treated.

Harris-Moore acknowledges that the idea is outlandish, but it is the most realistic option given her condition.

His goal is to raise $308,000 through a GoFundMe site. Currently, people have donated just $1,900.

Cox Media Group