A Hollywood studio has paid more than $1 million to settle the "Barefoot Bandit's" court-ordered restitution in exchange for the rights to his story.
The studio, 20th Century Fox, wrote a check to the U.S. Marshal's office earlier this month. It was the final payment toward Colton Harris-Moore's restitution, The Seattle Times reported.
The "Barefoot Bandit's" life on the run is now headed toward the big screen. The money mostly paid for three small airplanes he stole and crash landed and a boat he hijacked in the Bahamas while evading capture.
Harris-Moore was sentenced to 6 ½ years in federal prison in 2012 for the theft of the airplanes, a boat and guns during a crime spree that began when he escaped from a Renton juvenile halfway house in 2008.
A book and a documentary of his exploits already have been published.
The Internet made Harris-Moore a cult hero, and at one time, he had nearly 50,000 followers on his Facebook page, where he would occasionally leave a post written on a stolen laptop.
He eluded a massive manhunt, while police warned that he was dangerous.
Harris-Moore said he taught himself how to fly using flight manuals and a computer flight simulator, according to court documents.
While he was able to get the planes off the ground and pilot them, sometimes in bad weather, he had a tougher time with the landings. Harris-Moore crashed all three of them, acknowledging in defense documents that he very nearly died in a September 2009 crash of a stolen Cessna that went down near Granite Falls in Snohomish County.
During his 2012 sentencing before U.S. District Judge Richard Jones, Harris-Moore said his dream of flying was the only thing that saved him from the nightmare of a childhood of neglect at the hands of an abusive alcoholic mother. He said some of the burglaries he committed were done to steal food so he wouldn't starve.
The federal sentence was set to run concurrently with a 7 1/2-year sentence imposed in a state court for a series of home and business burglaries.
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More