At Large: Teen Bandit. Even Larger: His Legend.

A teen bandit from the small Washington island of Camano has been on the run for 20 months and is being touted as a modern-day Jesse James. Police say the young outlaw is an amateur criminal — but a master escape artist. The last time authorities had Colton Harris-Moore in custody was in April 2008. At that point, he was serving time in a halfway house for youth offenders, just south of Seattle. He'd been convicted of theft and possession of stolen property.

It was bed-check and he was in his pajamas. But soon after the nightly routine, he climbed out a second-story window and into the night. Since then, the now-18-year-old fugitive has eluded police in Washington, Idaho and Canada, repeatedly vanishing into the woods. Police suspect he's stolen at least two planes, two boats and several cars, plus broken into more than 50 homes. Yet the only thing growing faster than Harris-Moore's alleged rap sheet is his legend.

"I don't understand it, myself," says county sheriff Mark Brown. He bristles at the mention of Harris-Moore's exploding popularity. "Reasonable people would not want to idolize somebody or sensationalize somebody who's a thief," he says. Harris-Moore is wanted in five counties on multiple charges. But 10 of those charges are in Harris-Moore's hometown of Camano Island — Brown's jurisdiction.