Stolen plane, grocery break-in may mean Colton Harris-Moore on Orcas Island

EASTSOUND, Orcas Island – Colton Harris-Moore, the notorious teenage serial felon, may have reemerged early today when a stolen plane was discovered in Eastsound on Orcas Island and a nearby grocery store was broken into.

Kyle Ater, the owner of the Orcas Market and Gourmet Deli, said he discovered large chalk-drawn footprints on his floor, $1,200 cash missing and a security system vandalized.

When San Juan County sheriff's deputies were investigating the grocery store burglary, a call came over the police radio that a stolen plane was found crashed at the island's airstrip and was blocking the landing strip, Ater said.

With the combination of stolen plane and burglarized store suspicion immediately grew that Harris-Moore had returned to Orcas Island.

“As soon as we got the call, that's it, it was confirmation. That's his M.O.,” Ater said.

San Juan County Sheriff William Cumming said Harris-Moore is a “strong person of interest."

The plane, stolen from Anacortes and spotted on radar approaching Orcas around 11:45 p.m. Wednesday, is the same type of plane the teen is suspected to have stolen from Friday Harbor last fall, Cumming said.

San Juan county officials are now working with other police and federal agencies.

“We are operating as though he is still in our jurisdiction and planning our operational steps accordingly,” the sheriff said.

Ater said the burglar used chalk to draw what appeared to be the outline of barefoot prints all over the store. Harris-Moore has been dubbed the “barefoot burglar” by some media outlets. He's been reportedly seen running from crime scenes barefoot.

Authorities have said the teen likely wears shoes more often than not.

The break-in suspect also took food and tried to destroy a sophisticated surveillance system by putting a computer hard drive into a large sink and filling it with water, Ater said.

Water in the sink was still running around 8:15 a.m. when Ater opened the store.

Harris-Moore, 18, has developed an international reputation as his story has been told by the media and replayed on the Internet.

The Camano Island teenager has a long criminal history and has eluded police since he escaped a half way house in Renton in April 2008.

He was serving a three-year sentence for possession of stolen property.

In October, Cumming linked a series of burglaries in the San Juan Islands to Harris-Moore and said the teen was the primary suspect in a plane theft from the prior year.

The crashed plane that was discovered this morning reportedly was stolen from Skagit County.

Harris-Moore has been linked to at least three other plane thefts, all small aircraft that crashed in hard landings. The most recent before today's episode was a plane that crashed near Granite Falls in October, stolen from Idaho.

Detectives on Island County said some break-ins on Camano Island in December were “Colton-like,” but couldn't be conclusively linked to the teen.

Harris-Moore's mother still lives on south Camano Island and has said she's in touch with her son periodically by phone.

She's changed her phone number several times and now refuses to give it out, fearing the police will tap her line.

Harris-Moore is charged in San Juan County Superior Court with a Sept. 8 burglary at another Eastsound market. Prosecutors said they have DNA evidence linking the teen to that break-in.

Since that crime, the teen reportedly has slipped into British Columbia, stole a plane in Idaho, shot at a deputy near Granite Falls and continues to evade arrest.

Ater, the Orcas Island store owner, said he spent weeks sleeping in his business last fall when Harris-Moore was believed to be on the island.

Now, he said he likely will return to sleeping in the store to guard his business.

“It's really personal for me because I have all my time in here,” Ater said. “It's a total violation.”