THE PARENTS of a six-year-old boy who sparked a 50-mile chase by US emergency services across Colorado after an escaped hot air balloon are facing criminal charges, after the sheriff’s department said yesterday the affair had been a hoax aimed at securing a television reality show deal.
The charges carry prison sentences of two to six years and fines of up to $500,000.
Six-year-old Falcon Heene – or Balloon Boy, as he instantly became known – has commanded the attention of the American public since last Thursday, when it was believed he had inadvertently untethered an experimental helium balloon from his family home and become trapped in its small compartment several thousand feet over Colorado.
He was eventually discovered hiding in an attic space above the garage at his family home.
Now, law enforcement officials believe the whole episode was contrived by his parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene.
“It has been determined that this is a hoax, that it was a publicity stunt,” the local sheriff Jim Alderden, told reporters yesterday.
The hoax had been carried out, Mr Alderden alleged, “with the hope of marketing themselves for a reality television show.”
Among the charges that one or both parents may face are conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and attempting to influence a public servant. The third offence carries a maximum sentence of six years in jail.
Law enforcement officials were at first reluctant to believe they had been duped, in part because they said the reactions of the parents throughout the ordeal appeared genuine.
However suspicions that were rooted in Mr Heene’s colourful background – he has already appeared on Wife Swap and reportedly believes humans are descended from aliens – were given further weight after a CNN interview given shortly after Falcon’s whereabouts were discovered.
When asked by his parents why he had not come out from his hiding place when he heard them calling for him, the child replied: “You guys said we did this for a show.” – (Additional reporting Guardian)