Posted on 10/18/2009 10:09:18 AM PDT by Steelfish
Colo. sheriff calls balloon saga a hoax He says ordeal was staged to generate publicity for a reality TV show
FORT COLLINS. Colo. - A sheriff said he was pursuing criminal charges in Colorado's "balloon boy" saga, which he described Sunday as a hoax to generate publicity for a reality TV show.
Deputies searched the home of the boy's parents Saturday night, carrying away several boxes and a computer.
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Some people are so stupid, even their very idea of success (making a fake U.F.O. and pretending to lose their kid in it) is stupid.
I was one of the few who said nice things and sent prayers on one of the live/immediate post-live threads.
I take them all back and the prayers are now for those poor children being raised by such awful people.
Forgot to add “breaking news”
It may have been planned as a publicity stunt.
However, I doubt that he planned on the youngest son having appeared to have left with the craft.
Live press conf on right now with the sheriff- he’s visibily upset- actually- furious.
Unbelievable family.
Several iterations of this story have been posted on FR since yesterday, so probably not “Breaking News....”
This is such crap... who cares about balloon boy or his family?
Fame and fortune, two really big motivators which have launched many a poorly conceived plan. The good thing is that they didn’t actually launch the kid off in the balloon to achieve realism.
IMO, he should have been more skeptical early on. He looks like an incompetent dufus to be suddenly outraged 72 hours after it was obvious this was a hoax.
They broke the law. They need to be prosecuted.
Since when do conservatives rush to judgement on the allegations of an LEO?
Perhaps or perhaps not, the family set this up.
This poster is not convinced. Any time a local official gets in front of national television and rails in any way on some sudden “tough” crackdown on this or that - fact is often it turns out to be driven in large part by political ambition.
Is the family seeking publicity.
Or is the sheriff?...
The Charges:
Conspiracy; Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor; Filing a False Report etc......
Actually- it’s a fairly interesting story. It illustrates pretty well what the culture at large looks like...
A little of both
They will get a very hefty bill for the “rescue”, among other things they were too stupid to think about while punking the public.
They certainly had the sheriff and his investigators fooled.
They should be made to pay all the agencies for wasted hours and man power used.
The USAF, local Fire and SAR departments, the FAA for clearing airspace, the wheat field that got trashed for the rescue.
Maybe 2 Million should do it. Put them on the installment plan.
Wow! That’s what I get for thinking nobody could be this stupid.
This guy got his fame, but it’s going to take the form of shame.
Way to go numb n-ts.
You may be right- but his explanations were reasonable as to why they didn’t bring them into custody sooner.
Yep, makes sense. The guy is a certifiable nutter.
I saw footage of the balloon in flight on TV last night and it’s obvious it doesn’t have enough lift to carry a probably 40lb kid. Why the hell was everyone who had actually seen the balloon getting their panties all wadded?
The hundreds of people professionally involved in the rescue and search for the boy, the people that pay for those professionals, anyone possibly endangered by these safety professionals being diverted to this, and then people like me that believe that staging a publicity stunt that ties up public safety personnel and wastes tens of thousands of dollars of public money warrants prosecution.
Other than them you're right, nobody cares.
I can’t blame the sheriff, although he’s the one who went out to the press and said he saw no evidence it was a hoax the other day. Larimer County is still a pretty rural (and very nice) place, he’s probably not been in this kind of spotlight before and said what he thought was true at the time.
Congrats to FReepers who called this right from the start. I was unsure, but after seeing the video cameras rolling and a kid saying the wrong thing and then puking on live TV the next day, it sure seemed like someone was orchestrating things...
At the time this happened, I thought the parents were away and the kids got into trouble without their knowledge. Then I found out the parents were home, the dad right there when the balloon lifted off.
If he was there, how did he not know his six year old child wasn’t in the balloon?
As you state, this isn’t over yet, but right now these parents are looking like world class jackasses. We’ll see how it turns out.
If in the end they are found to be innocent, you’ll look like a sage. I don’t think that will be the case, but what the hey...
I love this. Wasn’t this the same sheriff that said that it was his professional opinion that this wasn’t a hoax based on his interviews with the parents and the hyperactive boy?
Great, now can we get some real news in the spotlight? Such as the destruction of our country, loss of our sovereignty, and the infiltration of our government by a horde of Marxists?
In the news conference the Sheriff said he had evidence this was a hoax. But due to Colorado law, they can't say what that is.
Reality TV has jumped the shark.
It was bizarre, wasn’t it? Even while something seemed “off”..it was still a nailbiter.
There were a lot of freepers who saw through it quickly- I wasn’t one of them- it just seemed too fantastic that anyone would do such a thing as a hoax.
sw
OMG- this is hilarious! The sheriff just said the ACLU may be representing the family.
PERFECT!
So the ACLU is possibly gonna be involved in this case?
wow.....
New realty show, “The Heenes in Jail”.
I think the local law enforcement officials are fixing to be reamed by the national media & the ACLU now.....
Wouldn’t it be hilarious if we find out that the democrat party paid them to do this to get negative Obama stories off the TeeVee. Wouldn’t surprise me at all! What weren’t we looking at while we were all watching the UFO?
Always gotta admire a person man enough to do something like that publically. Good on him.
So they don't give a crap about Rush Limbaugh being falsely accused...but they come to the rescue of this family?
Why? Are oriental wives considered "minorities"?
sw
Dirt bag parents still need your prayer.
I can’t imagine how or why the ACLU would get involved.
Sheriff just said there’s doubt that Falcon was in the garage attic the whole time..
Part of the problem is all the jurisdictions involved- it really IS just a local matter, but as soon as the feds got involved with military planes and choppers- all bets are off.
I hope freepers always give an “endangered” child situation the benefit of the doubt. LOL..there was a freeper who said, “Jiffy pop anyone” and another freeper said, ‘jerk get off this thread’. Jiffy Pop poster come out, and say “I told you so”.. :)
“Why? Are oriental wives considered “minorities”?”
The left does not consider asians to be minorities. Mostly because they value education, value family, and have a strong work ethic.
And now when the REAL flying saucers pick up a little boy .............nobody will believe it.
ahh so its ok to make jokes about a child who may be in peril. Yeah that should be the first response.
>>Dirt bag parents still need your prayer.<<
*sigh* Too true — maybe more than anyone...
I even chastised Mr. Spectre (who has logged over 10K flying hrs) when he started laughing and told me to calm down that the kid wasn't in the balloon.
I wouldn't listen...oh boy was I ever duped!
sw
We surely need to care about the children being exploited by this father. He seems to have no problem endangering their lives.
After listening to the 911 tapes of the parents talking to dispatchers, I'm certainly suckered in by either their fantastic acting abilities, or the fact two parents were very worried for their youngest child. This is not to say all the follow on interviews weren't criminal child abuse, nor to say the father wouldn't take advantage of the publicity, but I'm pretty firmly convinced that at least for an hour there, they were sure their child was either in mortal danger, or already lost to them.
Do I think they are being wrongly prosecuted? Nahh, it's pretty clear that releasing that balloon was contemplated in the past for personal gain. And the father's craving for fame at any cost to his family certainly warrants the microscope he'll be under by the prosecutor and child protective services. Hopefully sanity will prevail and an agreement can be reached with prosecutors that'll end the father's attempts to turn his family into a show.
I'm not a big fan of preemptive prosecution, nor prosecuting someone who is innocent of the crime they're charged with, but I'll look the other way in this case.
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