Posted on 12/23/2009 5:34:08 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The parents who pulled the balloon boy hoax in hopes of landing a reality TV show were sentenced to jail Wednesday — 90 days for him, 20 days for her — and barred from profiting from their newfound celebrity status for the next four years.
Choking back tears, Richard Heene apologized in court for the frenzy he caused when he claimed his 6-year-old son Falcon had floated away in a giant helium balloon shaped like a flying saucer.
"I'm very, very sorry. And I want to apologize to all the rescue workers out there, and the people that got involved in the community," said the 48-year-old Heene, a UFO-obsessed backyard scientist who turned to storm-chasing and reality TV after his Hollywood acting career bombed.
The sentencing was the culmination of a saga that transfixed the nation in October with the sight of the silvery balloon hurtling through the sky on live television. In the end, it was all a publicity stunt by a family broke and desperate for attention and money after networks kept rejecting their reality TV show pitches.
The case — along with the White House party-crashing by a Virginia couple last month — illustrated vividly the lengths people are willing to go to become TV stars in this 15-minutes-of-fame world.
"What this case is about is deception, exploitation — exploitation of the children of the Heenes, exploitation of the media and exploitation of people's emotions — and money," District Judge Stephen Schapanski said
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
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now lets send al gore and phil jones for the global warming hoax XD
Id rather see them in jail :D
Why someone stole 140 trillion to 500 trillion worth of derivatives and we did not even get a t shirt
And this ballon thing distracted msn for days they should get civilain medals not reprimands
Dis ain’t the old days when one could get away with pranks like that!
Our pranks did not cost law enforcement millions of dollars and tie air traffic of a major airport.
That’s IT? No restitution? Or did I miss that part?
Remember, the Feds are still looking into the case. So they are not out of the woods.
Good.
That ‘crossing state lines’ thing may still have some teeth! ;)
This sounds similar to what happened a few months ago when some Colorado family rigged up a homemade balloon and also led authorities to believe that their child was on it. However they got off scot free. This is getting ridiculous!
The punishment fits the crime. To falsely report an emergency should rightly be considered a crime that wastes resources and endangers the safety of those experiencing real emergency situations. However, I’m against being overly vindictive against the Heene’s. Some jail time, a big fine (to compensate for the time wasted by police, ambulances, etc) and an order not to profit from this ridiculous stunt should be sufficient to deter anyone from trying a publicity ploy like this in the future.
These people are getting jail time but where's the cell for Reid, Pelosi, Baucus, Nelson....They're worse crooks & grifters than this family!
I think the Federal Government should throw the book at them for disrupting air commercial traffic.
I think the WH party crashers should face jail time. The Secret Service is looking into the matter.
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