Posted on 10/17/2009 7:19:32 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – A Colorado sheriff said he was pursuing criminal charges in the case of a 6-year-old boy who vanished into the rafters of his garage while the world thought he was zooming through the sky in a flying saucer-like helium balloon.
The boy's parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, met with Larimer County investigators for much of the afternoon, but Sheriff Jim Alderden didn't say who would be charged or what the charges would be.
Alderden didn't call Thursday's hours-long drama a hoax, but he expressed disappointment that he couldn't level more serious charges in the incident, which sent police and the military scrambling to save young Falcon Heene as millions of worried television viewers watched.
"We were looking at Class 3 misdemeanor, which hardly seems serious enough given the circumstances," Alderden said. "We are talking to the district attorney, federal officials to see if perhaps there aren't additional federal charges that are appropriate in this circumstance."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Richard Heene (L) holds his son six-year-old Falcon Heene as he talks to reporters outside their house in Fort Collins, Colorado October 15, 2009. Falcon, who set off a massive search and rescue operation and media frenzy after it was reported he was inside a homemade helium balloon that broke loose and drifted for hours thousands of feet above Colorado has been found safe in his attic, police said on Thursday. REUTERS/Rick Wilking (UNITED STATES SOCIETY)
The FAA could prolly come up with something, but that seems stupid. The “craft” was never intended to fly.
I’d be looking at civil damages, not criminal charges. That balloon cost beaucoup $$ to chase, thinking the child was aboard.
I wonder if the most serious charge they could hit them with might be an FAA flight violation. the FAA takes flight space pretty seriously.
I'll see it when I believe it. /s
He probably regrets that he was not more circumspect in his comments yesterday about taking the family at their word, and this is the most tactful way of saying he’s really P.O.’d today.
I called it here before. The guy is a attention whore.
Robert Thomas helped Richard Heene plan the Balloon Hoax.
http://gawker.com/5383858/exclusive-i-helped-richard-heene-plan-a-balloon-hoax
already facebook pages devoted to the family, guess dad’s got his extra 15 minutes
Is the sheriff running for something?
Seems sort of like that DA going after the Duke LAX team.
I think there may be some criminal child abuse charges here, when all the investigating is done. Something is WAY wrong in this family. They’ve apparently dragged their kids into hurricanes as part of their “storm-chasing” obsession, and it now appears that the 6 year old was bullied into participating in a scam that tied up huge amounts of emergency personnel for hours. They were dragging that poor kid around to media interviews, where he threw up twice — both times when the question of why he didn’t come out of hiding was posed. Either the kid was genuinely ill with a stomach flu or something, in which case one vomiting episode should have been the cue to stop dragging him around to media interviews, or the vomiting was due to psychological stress in a kid who’s afraid of getting in trouble for not sticking to lies his father told him to tell. These kids are not living in a situation which is safe for their physical or psychological well-being.
HUGH and SERIES charges, huh?
This guy is a psycho. Making people believe that his 6 year old son fell 10,000 feet to his death. He figured no one would give a damn about his stupid jiffy pop looking balloon so he thought of this idea of making people believe his kid was on board to make it more dramatic and get peoples attention. The Dad belongs in jail, along with his looney tune wife. Both believe they were abducted by aliens
Ok, stupid news for stupid people. Oops there goes another trillion…what just happened…oh the balloon you say? Not sure what was more stupid, the news about the tail or the Fox segment with the girly men trying to be one of the girls.
Yeah but everyone can understand his frustration and i doubt many will criticize him. He will (or would have if he hadn't said this) get a lot of grief for charging the guy only with a measly misdemeanor. So the reality is he probably had to said something like what he said in order to take some heat off him and his department.
I don’t blame him. He’s rightfully pissed that he believed parents who put on a big emotional act about how they were terrified for their young son’s safety, and who truned out to be lying about the whole thing to pursue their dream of endless media attention. Whatever CPS dishes out to these parents, they have it coming. I just hope the kids somehow get a sane and stable home.
Lol, your UFO is a close copy of the balloon ufo. Gave me a laugh.
One newswoman said the balloon was turning like a ferris-wheel........guess she had her head lying on her shoulder or something! snicker
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