Mr. Charlie

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In a fit of paranoia, Charlie fled Seattle in a stolen SUV ..and wound up in the Bahamas ..arriving by plane he’d stolen somewhere in Indiana. Charlie’s no angel and he’s definitely not a pilot. But he taught himself to fly by playing video games ..listening to aircraft VHF frequencies and watching planes take off and land at an airport near the slough where he lived. He was charged with taking stolen-aircraft on joy rides across eight states. He crash-landed once near Bonners Ferry, Idaho ..but made it to the Bahamas ..where they busted him riding a stolen skiff into Romora Bay. Charlie has a history of amnesia, neuro-cognitive impairment and untreated PTSD. He was dumped on the streets by psychiatric techs and immediately surrounded by Seattle police in a case of mistaken identity. Things quickly went from bad to worse when the charges went from malicious mischief to armed robbery. It was enough to flip a paranoia switch that told him he better get out of town ..and just keep going. He escaped from a halfway house. After his arrest, a movie studio bought the rights to his story, which Charlie immediately used to repay his victims. After considering his history, the judge called it a case about ‘the triumph of the human spirit’ and put him on probation .. releasing him back to the custody of the psychiatric community.