An accused serial burglar and thief dubbed the "Barefoot Bandit" pleaded guilty on Friday under a deal with prosecutors to settle charges pending against him in federal and state court.
Colton Harris-Moore, 20, suspected in a spree of sometimes-shoeless crimes across nine states, British Columbia and the Bahamas, appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle for a "change of plea" hearing.
Under the 28-page plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Harris-Moore agreed to forfeit any profits, intellectual property and life story rights from his crimes.
He faces a maximum sentence of 78 months in prison and must pay more than $1.4 million in restitution when he is sentenced in October.
"Mr. Harris-Moore's flight from justice has ended. He will spend a significant amount of time in prison and he will not make a dime from his crimes," U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan said after the hearing.
Harris-Moore still faces a trial in state court over more than 40 charges filed sparely by four Washington counties in connection with what prosecutors said was a two-year crime spree.
Defense attorney John Henry Browne had earlier said a final deal was complicated in part by the question of whether his client, a high school dropout and self-taught pilot, should be permitted to sell and profit from the rights to his life story.
Browne has insisted his client is not interested in profiting from his exploits.
But entertainment lawyer Lance Rosen, who claims to represent "all media interests" for Harris-Moore, declined to discuss the status of the case.
"It's a wonderful story, a wonderful drama," he told Reuters. "It's a work in progress, and it's inappropriate for me to comment at this time."
Harris-Moore, who grew up on Camano Island, north of Seattle, is suspected of committing more than 80 burglaries, thefts and other crimes after escaping from a juvenile detention center in April 2008.
Many of those cases involve stolen boats and planes that he allegedly used to hop from one island to another in Puget Sound as he stayed one step ahead of authorities for two years.
He is accused of flying one stolen aircraft about 1,000 miles from Indiana to the Bahamas last year. It was there that he was finally captured by Bahamian police who shot out the engine of a boat in which he was trying to make a getaway.
Harris-Moore was extradited back to Seattle in July to face federal charges.
He was indicted on a total of six counts — interstate transportation of a stolen plane, boat and a gun, as well as being a fugitive in possession of a firearm, flying a plane without a pilot's license and burglary of an automated teller machine.
After his hearing Friday, Harris-Moore will be transferred to Island County, Washington, for separate proceedings in state court there, Island County prosecutor Greg Banks said.
"I anticipate that he will resolve all of his state charges while in Island County, before he returns to federal court for sentencing there," Banks said.