MSM Balloon Boy Parents Must Pay $42,000 Rescue bill

[Shooting Star]

Balloon Boy Parents Must Pay $42,000 Rescue bill
US parents who triggered a major alert by claiming their son was adrift in a helium balloon have been ordered to pay the $42,000 (£26,000) rescue bill.

The Colorado couple reported in October that their young son had been carried away by the balloon - whose progress was then tracked by news organisations.

Six-year-old Falcon Heene's disappearance became a media drama, but he was found hiding afterwards at home.

It later emerged the hoax was an attempt to secure a TV deal.

Their lawyer, David Lane, said Richard Heene and his wife Mayumi have now been ordered to pay restitution for the emergency services' rescue efforts.

'Cannot afford bill'

Millions of television viewers were gripped by live coverage of the drifting weather balloon which was feared to have Falcon on board.

Falcon's parents have pleaded guilty to a number of charges and face a sentencing hearing on Wednesday.

Richard Heene has admitted attempting to influence a public servant. Mayumi Heene admits false reporting to the authorities.

Although the charges are punishable by jail terms, it is expected they will receive probation orders.

Mr Lane said the Heenes cannot afford to pay the $42,000 bill.

Police carried out an intensive search for the boy after the balloon landed about 64km (40 miles) north of Denver and was found to be empty.

But it then transpired that the child was hiding at home and days later the couple were accused of the elaborate hoax - apparently an attempt to secure a deal for a reality TV show.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8427548.stm

[CelticRose]

Seeing as the whole thing was cooked up in a vain attempt to attract some networks attention for a 'reality show'; I think that it's right that the family be held financially responsible for the cost their stunt.

Guess they'll have to work out some sort of payment plan..........

[fruit loop]

ANYONE who perpetrates a fraud of this nature should have to repay the expenses, AND do jail time.

The "Runaway Bride" and that little snot in Madison, Wisconsin, who faked their own disappearances should have gone to prison.

[JIL3]

Excellent News!

[Kent]

This will help to stop "copycats" from doing the same thing.

[saveamerica]

Originally Posted by CelticRose

Seeing as the whole thing was cooked up .. I think that it's right that the family be held financially responsible for the cost their stunt

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

they should be charged with criminal charges, have a trial, and let the jury decide. a 'fine' for this amount is pure BS and should go before a grand jury so they can get DUE PROCESS.

but seeing as nobody has "proven" that this family has "cooked up" anything .. i suggest that all those who believe they should be fined fork up $42,000 (!) for this unproven fraud.

i'm sure this will shut a lot of people up.

[CelticRose]

Originally Posted by saveamerica

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

they should be charged with criminal charges, have a trial, and let the jury decide. a 'fine' for this amount is pure BS and should go before a grand jury so they can get DUE PROCESS.

but seeing as nobody has "proven" that this family has "cooked up" anything .. i suggest that all those who believe they should be fined fork up $42,000 (!) for this unproven fraud.

i'm sure this will shut a lot of people up.

I also believe that people who take risks, such as mountain climbing in the winter, should bear the costs of rescue, or as is more often the case, recovery of their bodies. Yes, governments should have such temas and equipment to mount a search and rescue force however, in some cases, the people they set out to find / assist; took unreasonable chances and in doing so, risked other people lives as well as placing a large burden upon the taxpayer.

In the case of the 'ballon boy' stunt; both the authorities and the MSM did the leg work and it turned out that the father was trying to get a network interested in doing a 'reality' type series about he and his family. His wife had been on a reality show, 'Wife Swap'.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/18/col...ion/index.html

Authorities: 'Balloon boy' incident was a hoax

(CNN) -- Three days after the world watched a giant balloon fly through the air as a tearful family expressed fears that their 6-year-old boy could be inside, authorities announced what millions suspected: The whole thing was staged.

The "Aha!" moment that led authorities to realize what had happened was an interview with the family Thursday night on CNN's "Larry King Live," Sheriff Jim Alderden of Larimer County said Sunday. In the interview with Wolf Blitzer, filling in for King, the Heenes asked their son why he had not come out from hiding when they called his name.

"You guys said we did this for the show," the boy responded.

On Sunday, Alderden called the incident a "hoax," adding that investigators believe the evidence indicates that "it was a publicity stunt" by the family in hopes of "better marketing themselves for a reality television show at some point in the future."

The parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, met in a Hollywood acting school and "put on a very good show for us," Alderden said. Authorities know there was "a conspiracy" between them, he added.

He said charges are expected to be filed in the case.

The couple's attorney told CNN affiliate KMGH that he hasn't seen any evidence beyond "speculation," but the Heenes would turn themselves in if charges are filed.

"All I'm saying if you've got some reason to arrest him, let me know, he'll turn himself in," said Denver attorney David Lane referring to Richard Heene. "If you got the goods, just tell me."

The sheriff said investigators also want to interview 25-year-old researcher Robert Thomas who worked with Richard Heene for about two months last spring. Thomas was paid by Gawker.com -- a popular gossip site -- to write about his experience with Heene for a story published on Saturday. Watch Alderden tell how police recognized "hoax" »

In an interview arranged with the help of Gawker, Thomas told CNN Sunday that as a student at Colorado State University with an interest in electromagnetic studies, he sought out Heene for a job as a possible research assistant. He said he ended up as his "stenographer," taking down Heene's ideas and proposals for reality-show pitches.

Thomas said that at one point they were talking about the Roswell UFO incident of the late 1940s, when Heene said it would be easy to cook up "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."

Thomas said he wrote up the balloon idea, which he says did not involve any kids going missing, as a potential reality show episode. "I didn't know that he was going to do something like this," Thomas told CNN Sunday.

Thomas said he eventually quit working with Heene in May.

The sheriff's announcement included an admission that authorities misled the media on Friday when they said they still believed it was not a hoax. After Falcon's remark on CNN Thursday night, "it became very clear to us at that point that they were lying," Alderden said.

The "nonverbal responses" and "verbal cues" from the children at that moment made it clear, Alderden said.

But to get to the truth, "it was very important during this time that they maintained their trust with us." So investigators misled the media while they carried out their "game plan" of gathering the truth. Watch body language expert analyze Heene interview »

That plan included pursuing separate interviews with the Heene parents and polygraph tests, partly by arguing that it could help end the media frenzy surrounding them, Alderden said. He added that by law he could not say whether those tests were taken.

The Heenes have repeatedly denied any hoax. In an interview Friday with CNN's "American Morning," Richard Heene said Falcon's remark was a reference to the media that had assembled in front of the family's home.

Charges have not been filed, but authorities expect to recommend felony charges including conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and attempting to influence a public servant, Alderden said. They also plan to recommend a charge of filing a false police report, which is a misdemeanor. Watch family lawyer: Clients "presumed innocent" »

He also said it is unlikely that someone convicted of these charges would face jail time. Explainer: How 'balloon boy' drama began »

One of the key questions that remain unanswered, Alderden said, is: Where was Falcon as police searched for him? On Friday, Alderden said it had been determined that the boy was hiding in an attic in the garage, and had fallen asleep. Now, authorities are unsure. Alderden said the boy may not have even been in the home.

"The biggest error we made is when we searched the house very clearly we didn't search the house as thoroughly as we should," he said. Authorities had assumed a 6-year-old boy could not have reached that attic, he said, so they took the Heenes at their word that he had hidden there the whole time.

The Heenes have previously appeared on the ABC program "Wife Swap." Richard Heene chases storms and brings the family along.

After the Hollywood gossip Web site TMZ.com reported that the Heenes had been "pitching a reality show about the wacky family," one of the networks mentioned -- TLC, which produces the show "Jon and Kate plus 8" -- told CNN that "they approached us months ago, and we passed."

Heene has been described as a meteorologist, but his education ended at the high school level, Alderden said.

Alderden also said authorities are concerned about the safety of the three children, ages 6, 8, and 10. In fact, authorities spoke with Mayumi Heene "at length about domestic violence" and the children's safety, Alderden said. "But we didn't have enough that would allow us or Child Protection Services to physically take the kids from that environment." iReport.com: "Outraged" over balloon hoax

A 911 call was made from the home earlier this year that led authorities to a "suspicious circumstance" that Alderden said may have involved "domestic violence, perhaps against the wife."

Lane, the Heenes' attorney, told KMGH that he has "no reason to believe they're anything but loving parents."

In an interview Friday with CNN's "American Morning," the Heene parents -- looking exhausted -- expressed relief that their son was alive. "I'm feeling very, very grateful that Falcon is among us," Richard Heene said. iReport.com: "Balloon boy saga is symptom, not disease"

Mayumi Heene said that the family was sitting in their living room, distraught and terrified for missing Falcon, when he walked into the room.

"[It] felt like from nowhere. When I first saw him, I couldn't even believe it. I couldn't comprehend right away," she said, adding that the next moment she was "just jumping, calling his name." She began to "scream and cry, and I just enjoyed that moment."


CNN's Greg Morrison and Janet DiGiacomo contributed to this report.

http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/10/15...bcs-wife-swap/

Balloon Boy's family was on ABC's 'Wife Swap'

by Nicole Sperling
Categories: Current Affairs, News, Television
Is everybody in America famous? That’s the feeling you get upon learning that today’s crazy story of the Colorado-based boy who was thought to be whisked away inside a giant balloon and has now been found inside his home was also a contestant on ABC’s Wife Swap. According to the AP, the six-year-old child Falcon Heene, previously the subject of a manhunt across Colorado, was on last year’s Wife Swap with his parents Mayumi and Richard Heene and his two brothers Bradford and Ryo. The family was featured on Season Five, highlighted for their obsession with storms and their practice of pulling their children out of school to take them on storm chasing missions to prove Richard’s theory about magnetic fields and gravity. Their episode aired in March.

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11...rges-for-hoax/


'Balloon Boy' Parents Plead Guilty to Charges in Hoax

The Colorado couple who told authorities that their 6-year-old son was carried away by a homemade helium balloon pleaded guilty Friday to federal and misdemeanor charges, CNN reports. Richard Heene was charged with a felony count of attempting to influence a public servant; his wife, Mayumi Heene, was charged with false reporting to authorities, a misdemeanor. The Heenes both pleaded guilty in Larimer County Court, and their attorneys said prosecutors are discussing a possible sentence of probation for the couple, plus 90 days in jail for Richard and 60 days in jail for Mayumi


The $42,000.00 is "[b] restitution for the emergency services' rescue efforts.[b]"; not a 'fine' as one would recieve in a court proceeding. They are simply being billed for the costs expened, by the local government, for mounting a very costly land and air search.

Does it never occur to those who set out on foolish or ill advised adventures, that, or those who fraudulently create a situation that will require search and or rescur services; that in doing so, they are taking a rather finite service for their own use, and in doing so, those very services might be needed for another who hasn't placed themselves in harms way?

ETA: Added link to article citing the father plead guilty to the charges.

[Camasjune]

Originally Posted by saveamerica

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

they should be charged with criminal charges, have a trial, and let the jury decide. a 'fine' for this amount is pure BS and should go before a grand jury so they can get DUE PROCESS.

but seeing as nobody has "proven" that this family has "cooked up" anything .. i suggest that all those who believe they should be fined fork up $42,000 (!) for this unproven fraud.

i'm sure this will shut a lot of people up.

BLAH BLAH BLAH to you too. These jerkoffs adimitted to the hoax, admitted, as in, pleading "guilty" to the charges. That was their due process and I think they are getting off quite easy with a lowball restitution.

[fruit loop]

Tie Richard Heene to a balloon and see how far he floats.

Guy's a jerk. Did anyone see the "Wife Swap" episode they were on? He treated his wife like a doormat.

Zero sympathy. He didn't get near what he deserved.

[Cheval]

If only we got reimbursed for the time we lost watching their lousy stunt.