ISLAND COUNTY, Wash. - Josh Flickner calls it like he sees it.
"It's a disgusting example of ignoring the facts to make a story that people will read," said Flickner, holding a copy of the latest edition of Time magazine.
Flickner is manager of Elger Bay Grocery, a victim of Colton Harris-Moore, and he's had it with the hype.
"That is going to be the driving force that someday I believe, if he's not caught, will push him to violence," said Flickner, "And this piece from Time does exactly that."
You can find Harris-Moore staring out from page 16 of this week's issue. The online version calls him "America's Most Wanted Teenage Bandit".
Besides break-ins at Western Washington airports, Harris-Moore was wanted in the Inland Northwest this fall as well. In September, officials say Harris-Moore stole a private Cessna 182 from the Boundary County Airport in North Idaho, and crash-landed the plane in Western Washington. Around the same time, police in Canada say Harris-Moore broke into the airport in Creston, but stole a car from that location.
Flickner says a reporter for Time interviewed him and other victims for the story, but said, "It doesn't have any interviews from any of the victims. Not one, and I think that's a shame."
The story's dropping just as the Island County Sheriff's Office is doing the same to it's budget. Next year, there could be fewer deputies on patrol.
Of all the headlines yet to be given Colton Harris-Moore, the only one his victims' want to read is, "Caught".
"This is gonna hurt the investigation, It's gonna hurt their chances to catch him," said Flickner.
