Minneapolis Airlines/Airport Examiner Marc Friedman

Well, well, well. What do we have here? The parents of balloon boy Falcon Heene have decided to plead guilty to charges of attempting to influence a public servant, a felony, and false reporting to authorities. They are expected to face nothing more than probation by making the guilty plea, which is hard to believe after such an incredible amount of hysteria was caused, as well as media hype and wasting of huge amounts of public resources in the search for the “missing” boy. The most serious of the charges could have led to a maximum six-year prison sentence, so how such a plea bargain was arrived at with prosecutors is hard to fathom.

What I’m hearing is that you can hide your kid in the attic, tell the police that he has flown off in a hot air balloon, watch sherriff’s helicopters and squad cars chase the balloon, necessitate flights at Denver International being routed away from the area and then you continue to insist that this really happened…and pretty much get away with it? In fact, if Falcon Heene, the youngster, didn’t say on national television that this was “all for the show” then who knows how much longer these lunatic parents would have been in the national limelight?

C’mon now…..they have to pay some sort of price with prison time and community service. And should parents be allowed to raise children in this crazy environment? What will they do next? To add insult to injury the mother, Mayumi Heene is apparently an illegal immigrant, so their lawyer is doing what he can to help them retain custody of the three children and keep her in the U.S. rather than be deported.

Obviously, to be continued…..

UPDATED INFORMATION: Police investigators say that they hope to soon question an associate of Richard Heene, father of the Balloon Boy, after e-mails surfaced indicating that the apparent hoax was discussed by the two men months ago. Heene indicated he planned a media event to help promote a reality show. While Heene’s attorney said today that his client is “absolutely innocent”, Denver resident Robert Thomas apparently has sold e-mail between him and Richard Heene to gawker.com which will portray Falcon Heene’s dad as a mad scientist carrying out various experiments.

Thomas provided the website a proposal that said, “This will be the most significant UFO-related news event to take place since the Roswell crash of 1947, and the result will be a dramatic increase in local and national awareness about the Heene Family, our Reality Series, as well as the UFO phenomenom in general”. (Check back for more updates as this story continues to evolve.)

Police in Fort Collins, Colorado have determined that last week’s media frenzy over a helium balloon that authorities initially feared carried a six-year-old boy was actually a concocted plan by the parent’s of the boy to gain attention. Various charges are pending that could send the parents to jail for several years and/or fine them up to half a million dollars.The balloon chase last Thursday included military helicopters and dozens of law enforcement vehicles.

Up until the time that Falcon Heene, the youngster who police initially thought had floated away in his family’s home made balloon, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that his dad said ” we did this all for the show”, it was believed that the incident was really a case of a missing child. Everyone was overwhelmingly relieved when Falcon was found hiding in the attic above the garage at home. He said that he hid because he felt he would get in trouble with his parents for allowing the tethered balloon to take flight.

Yesterday, Sheriff Jim Alderden said that the parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene had planned last Thursday’s escapade for at least two weeks as they sought to create a television reality show about them. The family was featured in a segment of ABC’s “Wife Swap” and had met in acting school.

The sheriff will recommending that criminal charges of conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, attempting to influence a public servant and making a false report be filed against the couple. While Falcon and his two older brothers were “100% involved”, it is unlikely that they will be charged.

The Heene’s describe themselves as stormchasers, but in reality Richard Heene has a high school education and lays tile as a contract employee. He maintains a “nutty professor” image on the outside but according to the sheriff “he may be nutty, but he’s not a professor.”