SEATTLE, June 2 (UPI) -- A bounty hunter says he and some colleagues are offering their services for free in the hunt for Washington state's so-called barefoot bandit.
Mike Rocha, a "fugitive recovery specialist," has joined the search for 19-year-old Colton Harris-Moore, suspected in a spate of burglaries and thefts since escaping from a halfway house for teens two years ago, The Seattle Times reported Wednesday.
Since fleeing the halfway house where he was serving time for burglary, Harris-Moore has been blamed for a string of thefts, including boats, airplanes and luxury cars, the newspaper said.
He was dubbed the "barefoot bandit" after surveillance videos allegedly caught him committing crimes in his bare feet.
Not everyone is happy to see the bounty hunters joining the search.
"I will continue to share investigative information with the various police agencies involved in apprehending Colton Harris-Moore," Island Country Sheriff Mark Brown said in a release, "but not to private interest groups, bounty hunters, etc."
Rocha says he sympathetic to Harris-Moore's case.
"He's had a rough childhood. He's at a juncture in his life -- he can either be a career criminal or he could step forward, get this behind him, get a movie deal, sign a book deal and make some money and start his adult life," Rocha said.
