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 Balloon boy's dad 'driven by ego and fame'
    October 19 2009 at 09:52AM Get IOL on your
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By David Gardner

The publicity-hungry parents of the six-year-old boy who sent US authorities on a wild goose chase after a home-made helium balloon will face criminal charges over the alleged hoax, police have confirmed.



Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden, who had previously said that Richard and Mayumi Heene would face only misdemeanour charges in the incident, said the couple could be charged with conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, filing a false report with authorities, and with attempting to influence a public servant.
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They now believe the incident was either a hoax or a publicity stunt
Officers were searching the family home on Sunday after Richard Heene and his wife Mayumi were both quizzed by investigators. They now believe the incident was either a hoax or a publicity stunt.

Suspicions that the flying saucer drama was faked grew after a worldwide TV audience watched with baited breath in the belief that Heene's son, Falcon, was on board the runaway balloon - only to discover that he had been hiding at home in the attic the whole time.

Now the parents, who have twice appeared on the American version of the reality show Wife Swap, are set to face charges of making a false report and wasting police time.

Until on Sunday, the police supported the family's insistence that their story was genuine.

But after the couple were interviewed again over the weekend in Fort Collins, Colorado, Sheriff Jim Alderden said: 'We do anticipate there will be some criminal charges filed in respect to this incident.'

The boy let it slip that he stayed hidden for more than four hours
He added that the relatively minor charges, which would not carry the threat of jail time, ?hardly seem serious enough given the circumstances.?

Police were discussing the case with federal prosecutors to consider the possibility of bringing more serious fraud charges if the drama was proved to be a scam.



News of the criminal prosecutions emerged as a former business associate claimed Heene had discussed pulling off a media hoax that would be "bigger than Roswell" to help pitch a reality TV show.

Robert Thomas said Heene, a retired weatherman and amateur scientist, was "driven by ego and fame".

"Richard said, 'How much do you want to bet we could facilitate some sort of a media stunt that would be equally profound as Roswell, and we could do so with nothing more than a weather balloon and some controversy.'"

He was referring to an infamous crash site in Roswell, New Mexico, where the US military said they found debris from a downed experimental high-altitude surveillance balloon in 1947, but UFO conspiracy theorists have since maintained a crashed craft was recovered with aliens aboard.

Thomas told the website Gawker that he worked on plans for a television series with Heene where they would release a home-made flying saucer to attract UFOs.

"This will not only provide us with incredible footage, but will also generate a tremendous amount of controversy among the public, as well as publicity within the mainstream media. The result will be a dramatic increase in local and national awareness about the Heene family, our reality series as well as the UFO phenomenon in general," read the pitch for the show.

Public sympathy for the feared plight of the little boy turned to anger soon after it was revealed that Falcon was not in the silver mushroom-shaped balloon when it floated to earth after its closely- watched two-hour flight on Thursday.

In a TV interview later that evening, the boy let it slip that he stayed hidden for more than four hours "for the show".

The remark prompted police to say they would re-interview the family.

During subsequent television interviews, Falcon twice became sick when asked why he had hidden.

Question marks were also raised after it emerged that the Heenes called a local TV station to claim Falcon was missing before they called the emergency services.

Thomas said the boy could never have climbed into the attic in the family garage where he was supposed to have hid without help from an adult.

He claimed his former friend was "using his children as pawns to facilitate a global media hoax" to try and generate enough publicity to attract a TV network to pick up his reality show.

Asked again on Saturday whether he had dreamed up the whole stunt, father-of-three Heene insisted: "Absolutely no hoax."

After several hours of interviews with investigators on Saturday, Heene said: "I was talking to the sheriff's department just now to further things along. We're doing well."

Police said that child protective services in Colorado have been notified to investigate the family. - Daily Mail

Showing page 1 of 1 comment pages, 5 total comments
4 Weeks ago Will wrote :
They might have got the attention they wanted - at the kids cost - for the kid to become sick during interviews must mean that he was realy stressed out over the lying he was made to do! I hope and trust that in this country it would be labelled as child abuse.
4 Weeks ago Millsy wrote :
OMG....what a hoax. Attention seeker!
4 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
Who calls their kid "Falcon" for heavens sake? Fruit cakes.
4 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
Isn't it wrong to teach your children to lie? Should the child not be removed from the custody of these 'bad' parents? Perhaps he should be given to be raised by people who would desperately love the opportunity to raise a child and teach him good values and how to become an upstanding member of society? Is that not what we should want for all our children?
4 Weeks ago Jared wrote :
I guess they got what they wanted. Worldwide publicity.
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