Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ Charges will be filed in balloon saga

[Bookworm]

Deputies searched the home of a couple caught up in Colorado's "balloon boy" saga Saturday night after the sheriff said he was pursuing criminal charges in a case that at first sparked fear for the child, then relief he was okay, to suspicions of a hoax.

The boy's parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, met with Larimer County investigators for much of Saturday afternoon amid lingering questions about whether he perpetrated a publicity stunt when his 6-year-old son Falcon vanished into the rafters of his garage while the world thought he was zooming through the sky in a flying saucer-like helium balloon.

But Sheriff Jim Alderden didn't say who would be charged or what the charges would be. His deputies later showed up at the Heene's Fort Collins home with a search warrant and at least three of them began a search. Sgt. Ian Stewart declined so say what they were after.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...oryId=113908194

[manadren]

I was wondering when that was going to happen. IN hindsight the whole things does look rather suspicious, especially with what Balloon Boy himself said of the incident. The father at least seems to be a bit of an attention seeker anyway, and couple that with a psuedoscientific side business, and it just looks like a publicity stunt.

[Red Squirrel]

lol I think this will start a new internet phenomenon. This whole situation is just so funny.

[manadren]

Mom admits to "Balloon Boy" hoax: court record
( link )

Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:34pm EDT

DENVER (Reuters) - The mother of a Colorado boy thought to be aboard a homemade helium balloon has admitted to investigators the whole thing was a hoax, according to a court document made public on Friday.

The local sheriff had already said the October 15 "Balloon Boy" incident was a publicity stunt and expected felony charges to be filed against the 6-year-old boy's parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene.

The live television images of the silver saucer-like balloon soaring through the Colorado skies captivated audiences until the boy turned up in the family's attic. Public sympathy turned to outrage when the family's account began to unravel.

According to a copy of a search warrant affidavit posted on the website of Fort Collins newspaper "The Coloradoan," Mayumi told investigators she and her husband lied to authorities and knew their son Falcon was at home as rescue teams tracked the balloon believing the boy was inside.

"The motive for the fabricated story was to make the Heene family more marketable for future media interest," the affidavit states.

The document also says the Heenes, who had starred in the reality television show "Wife Swap," had devised the hoax about two weeks before and had instructed their three children to lie to authorities and the media.

(Reporting by Keith Coffman; Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Mary Milliken and John O'Callaghan)

[Stasi]

Jeez, I wish I could list participation in "Wife Swap" on my resume.