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FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The runaway UFO-like balloon that the world thought was carrying a 6-year-old boy is back in the hands of the parents who pleaded guilty to the hoax.

LOS ANGELES — Once Richard Heene admitted in court that he wrongly sent authorities on a wild goose chase across Colorado to save the son he thought was aloft in a runaway balloon, friends and supporters seemed to take off just about as fast as that balloon. All except for one: Steven C. Barber, a 48-year-old filmmaker who says he still believes Heene really thought his son was in the balloon as it spun wildly through the skies on Oct. 15. He plans to prove it, Barber says, when he releases the documentary "Balloon Boy: Guilty Until Proven Innocent" later...

Here is a couple of short videos of Larry King's interview with "Balloon Boy's" father, Richard Heene, where he denies any hoax and says that he only plead guilty to "save" his family because of threats of deportation...(Videos)

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) -- The parents who carried out the balloon boy hoax were sentenced to jail Wednesday and given strict probation conditions that forbid them from earning any money from the spectacle for four years. Richard Heene was sentenced to 90 days in jail, including 60 days of work release that will let him pursue his job as a construction contractor while serving his time. His wife, Mayumi, was sentenced to 20 days in jail.....

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...

CO Judge sentences the father of 6 year old Falcon Heene, who was part of the "balloon" hoax earlier this year to four (4) years of probation.....

It may not be a very merry Christmas for Balloon Boy parents Richard and Mayumi Heene this year - they've just been hit with a $42,000 bill. The bill is from local, state and federal agencies for the Heenes' October stunt when they claimed their six-year-old son had crawled into a hot air balloon in their back yard and been whisked away into the skies.

The Colorado parents accused of pulling a spectacular hoax by reporting their son was aboard a runaway balloon pleaded guilty Friday to charges that could bring some jail time and probation. Richard Heene pleaded guilty to knowingly and falsely influencing Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden, a felony, in the episode that sent law enforcement scrambling to rescue 6-year-old Falcon until he was found safe at the family home. Mayumi Heene pleaded guilty to knowingly filing a false report with emergency services, a misdemeanor. Richard Heene told judge Stephen Schapanski he understood that he could have to pay restitution for the...

The parents of the "Balloon Boy" are about to land - perhaps behind bars. Richard Heene and his wife, Mayumi, reached a deal with authorities to enter guilty pleas over their October hoax that transfixed the country, their lawyer said Thursday. Heene, 48, will plead guilty to a felony - attempting to influence a public servant - while his 45-year-old wife will plead to a misdemeanor charge, attorney David Lane said. Although Lane initially said the deal would spare the couple from jail time, the lawyer later said he expected prosecutors to request some time behind bars - 90 days...

Wafting ever upwards on gaseous clouds of hope, only to have his numbers crash . . . On the day America went Balloon Boy crazy, I chanced to be on the radio, appearing live coast to coast on The Hugh Hewitt Show. And, as the Balloon Boy was the hot breaking news, Hugh asked me about it. “I don’t know what to say,” I said, “except it’s one of those peculiar and potentially tragic and instantly horrifying combination of circumstances.” If I sound a bit vague, well, that’s the idea. I’d gotten the gist of what was happening a couple of minutes before...

DENVER (Reuters) – The mother of a Colorado boy thought to be aboard a homemade helium balloon has admitted to investigators the whole thing was a hoax, according to a court document made public on Friday. ... "The motive for the fabricated story was to make the Heene family more marketable for future media interest," the affidavit states. The document also says the Heenes, who had starred in the reality television show "Wife Swap," had devised the hoax about two weeks before and had instructed their three children to lie to authorities and the media.

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- A Canadian company says its new "balloon-boy" costumes are practically flying off the shelves in the days leading to Halloween. Plantraco Microflight, based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, is selling the costumes online for $19.99 each, says the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. It didn't take much of a flight of fancy to dream up the idea after watching the helium-filled, flying-saucer look-alike take off from the yard of a house in Fort Collins, Colo., said Bud Kays, Plantraco Microflight's managing director. "It's a scale model of the balloon-boy's balloon," said Kays, speaking of 6-year-old Falcon Heene, who,...

UP, UP ON THE SCREEN (IN MY HELIUM BALLOON) Tune: "Up, Up and Away (In My Beautiful Balloon)" Original Would you like to hide in my helium balloon Would you ride untied in my helium balloon We'll be famous like the stars on TV, you and I For we can lie, we can lie Up, up on the screen In my helium, my helium balloon It's just a little game in my helium balloon It's fortune and it's fame in my helium balloon We can sign a deal and keep it real--no, we're not shy For we can lie, we...

The Federal Aviation Administration has opened its own investigation into the 50-mile flight of the helium balloon that briefly delayed flights at Denver International Airport after a couple reported that their 6-year-old son may have been on board, an official said Tuesday. FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said the agency investigates civil allegations rather than criminal ones. He declined to provide details on the nature of the FAA probe or its possible outcome. Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden has said investigators believe amateur storm chasers Richard and Mayumi Heene called 911 Thursday saying they thought their son, Falcon, was aboard the...

I know, I know, you're asking, "What about the Pitt wedding DUFU?" Well, before we get to the gasbag that got hitched, first we need to deal with a gasbag that got UN-hitched! I refer, of course, to the Balloon Boy saga, and the DUmmies' reaction to the story. But before we hear from the DUmmies, let's join the Heene Family Singers in singing one of their favorite Ballooney Tunes: UP, UP ON THE SCREEN (IN MY HELIUM BALLOON) Tune: "Up, Up and Away (In My Beautiful Balloon)" Original Would you like to hide in my helium balloon Would...

The Larimer County Sheriff says criminal charges are likely expected to be filed against Richard Heene. Heene is the Fort Collins man who reported his 6-year-old son missing in a helium-filled balloon on Thursday. The sheriff did not give specific charges, but said they would likely be a class 3 misdemeanor, which could be false reporting. The sheriff's office is working on getting a search warrant to search the Heene home and is planning a news conference Sunday at 11 a.m. Richard Heene and his wife Mayumi were interviewed by investigators Saturday.

Thomas spent several months earlier this year working on developing a reality science TV show to pitch to networks - the "show," Thomas says, that Falcon was referring to when he told CNN "We did it for the show." Among the ideas that Heene, Thomas and two others came up with for their reality TV proposal — and one that he says most intrigued Heene — involved a weather balloon modified to look like a UFO which they would launch in an attempt to drum up media interest in both the Heene family and the series he was desperate to...

Balloon dad says he has something to day according to reports