Shuts Down His Crowdfunding Effort For Flight Instruction

It was an egregious display of chutzpah, if nothing else.

You remember Colton Harris-Moore ... the so-called "Barefoot Bandit" who served a four-year prison sentence after stealing multiple airplanes as part of a coast-to-coast and international crime spree that finally ended in the Bahamas in 2010, where he was caught trying to escape by boat but ran aground.

Yeah, that guy.

Well, it seems that he thought it would be a good idea to actually learn to fly, which he had never done before stealing the airplanes he used to lead authorities on that international chase. So, he established a crowdfunding presence on GoFundMe to try to raise $125,000 towards his flight training. He said he specifically wanted to check out in a Cirrus because of the parachute system on the airplane.

But now, the federal government has put the kibosh on the idea. The Seattle Times reports that his federal parole officer has told Harris-Moore to take the site down because he still owes his victims about $129,000 in restitution. “He is not allowed to have a GoFundMe account to fund his wish to go to flying school when the victims aren’t whole,” said Connie Smith, chief U.S. probation and pretrial officer for Western Washington. “The money in that GoFundMe account will need to go to victims.”

And it's not a lot. He had raised about $1,600 before the site was shut down.

Harris-Moore took to Twitter to say he feels like his "dream has been crushed."

Colton-Moore retired a good portion of the restitution after being paid more than $1 million by 20th Century Fox for the movie rights to his story ... which mostly paid for the airplanes he wrecked trying to land them.

Harris-Moore still says being a pilot "would be an outstanding job."

Smith didn't rule out flight training for Harris-Moore, but said that it could not happen "until the victims are paid in full."

(Image from file)

FMI: www.wawp.uscourts.gov