Teen Bandit Colton Harris-Moore Catches Hollywood's Eye

April 19, 2010— -- The crime spree of a teenager who has alternately terrorized a group of small islands in the Pacific Northwest and won an international fanbase as an anti-hero may eventually make it to the silver screen.

Bob Friel, an Orcas Island writer whose article on teen bandit Colton Harris-Moore was featured in Outside Magazine, told ABCNews.com that he's close to inking a book deal with Hyperion Books. He's alsoin talks with 20th Century Fox and Hollywood director David Gordon Green about a movie based on his book proposal, he said.

"This story kind of washed up in my lap so it's only natural I'd be interested in it," Friel said. "He has all of us feeling paranoid."

Gregg Brilliant, vice president of corporate communications for 20th Century Fox, confirmed that the studio has optioned the film rights and that Green is attached to the project, though nothing had been finalized.

Harris-Moore, 18, is suspected in dozens of burglaries of homes and businesses and the thefts of four planes, each of which he crashed. Police, aided by federal agents, closed in on him last month in San Juan County, but he evaded capture yet again, sneaking off into the woods he has become so adept at disappearing into.

Officials have told ABC's Seattle affiliate KOMO that his haul may total $1.5 million.

He's done most of his damage in Orcas and Camano islands, frustrating and exhausting the bare bones police force that have also had to contend with persistent questions about why they can't keep up with an 18-year-old kid.

"It's changed, and not in a good way, our life style," Friel said of Harris-Moore's capers. "The crime level is extremely low and then suddenly you've got kind of this boogeyman who moves around in the woods at night and breaks into people's houses."

Harris-Moore is suspected in the Feb. 11 break-in at Kyle Ater's Homegrown Market & Gourmet Delicatessen on Orcas Island where he allegedly left a drawing of bare feet in an apparent homage to his nickname the "Barefoot Bandit."

Ater is wary of a Hollywood movie about the kid who says caused a $6,500 loss at his store, including the destruction of his security system. Ater said that when the intruder was unable to remove the hard drive from the security system, he simply put the monitor in the sink and drowned it.

"I think news is one thing and Hollywood glamour is another thing," Ater said. "If they're trying to glamorize him, it's wrong."