Who is the 'Barefoot Bandit' Colton Harris-Moore?

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - A Facebook fan page for Colton Harris-Moore describes him as the "real life 21st century outlaw."

There is already talk of a movie in the works about the former fugitive nicknamed the "Barefoot Bandit," from Camano Island, Wash., who alluded authorities until he was caught in the Bahamas on July 11.

But who is he?

By the way fans describe him, he may be a modern-day Billy the Kid – if that outlaw was alive today to navigate using the Internet instead of dirt roads.

The Seattle Times reported that 19-year-old Harris-Moore was captured about 2 a.m. July 11 on Harbour Island in the Bahamas after a brief, high-speed boat chase. After police shot out the engines of the stolen boat he reportedly tossed a knapsack that contained a laptop, an iPhone and a gun into the water. Police later found the knapsack and confirmed it contained a gun.

His escapades began in 2008 when he fled a halfway house in the state of Washington. Last year CNN reported that police considered him the prime suspect in crimes in five counties involving planes, luxury cars and boats. That included three small, private planes that had been stolen and flown away.

According to CNN, the boy called "Colt" was first arrested for burglary at 12.

Local media reports have discovered nine arrests for Harris-Moore before he was 15. He dropped out of school and authorities think he spent his teens burglarizing unoccupied homes in the vacation community of Camano Island.

As a young boy Harris-Moore grew up in a difficult household, fighting with his mother, while his father was absent, according to a profile in The New York Times . Having little, he would sneak into wealthy neighbors' homes to raid their refrigerators.

He was subjected to other students poking in grade school, though he could also be a bully, according to the Times. He dropped out of school in the ninth grade.

His habit of committing crimes shoeless – or by other accounts of fleeing law enforcement while barefoot – earned him the nickname "the Barefoot Burglar."

TIME.com said Harris-Moore, suspected of almost 100 burglaries in Washington, Idaho and Canada, has become a legend of sorts. T-shirts with his face or the words "Fly, Colton, fly" are becoming popular merchandise in Seattle and online.

The Internet has been one of his most powerful tools. According to TIME.com, he allegedly ordered a flying manual on the Internet and hot-wired a plane that belonged to a radio DJ before crashing it 300 miles away.

He has also become a viral folk hero, as his Facebook fan page has over 91,000 fans.

"Welcome home barefoot, we are all rooting for ya," one fan wrote this week. "Don't let those cops scare you. Flew to Bahamas and crashed, ... and you made those island sheriffs look as dumb as they are."

Not everyone on the site was a "fan," however.

"Shame on 20th Century Fox for optioning the movie rights for this criminal," a woman wrote following the news that a movie may be in the works. "He's nothing more than an outlaw ... as he clearly states on this site ... and one who thinks he has the right to take anything from anyone."

There are reports of companies working on film and book proposals based on Harris-Moore's life and criminal escapades.