Balloon boy family to face criminal charges

In a surprise announcement earlier this evening, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden told CNN that the state anticipates criminal charges will be filed against the family of the balloon boy.

On October 15th, the eyes of the country, perhaps of the world, watched in horror as a mylar “hot air” balloon floated through the skies of Colorado, fearing that a missing six year old boy was in the balloon.

According to the family, the balloon released accidentally and they feared their six year old son had climbed on board because he was missing, and nowhere to be found.

Falcon Heene, the six year old boy, was reportedly seen by his brother getting inside the experimental aircraft's compartment just prior to it being torn away from its tether causing the hot air balloon to fly away uncontrollably. The brother told his parents which then captured the attention of the nation.

Hundreds of rescue workers, including police, fire department, naval helicopters, and volunteers followed the balloon for more than four hours as it drifted through the skies.

Hours later, the balloon floated softly to a landing, but Falcon was not inside the balloon. Rescue workers and volunteers began scouring the grounds over which the balloon had floated hoping to find the boy.

Shortly after 6pm that evening, Falcon was found safe at home, “hiding in a box” in the family’s home. Since that evening, the Heene’s have appeared numerous times in press interviews, answering questions about the incident. The more the family was questioned, the more the answers didn’t seem to make sense. In fact, at one point, during a CNN interview, Falcon said, he heard his family calling his name.

"You did?" the boy's mother, Mayumi Heene, said.

"Why didn't you come out?" Richard Heene said.

Falcon answered, "You had said that we did this for a show."

After that interview speculation began about whether or not the entire balloon incident was a hoax. It has since been learned that before Richard Heene, Falcon’s father, ever called the police or 911 to report his son missing, he called a local TV station and asked them to send a news helicopter! The TV station did not believe the call, and did not send out a helicopter until the story had been confirmed by the police.

After the CNN interview, Sheriff Alderen said he would be re-interviewing the family, though initially he did not want to believe the incident was a hoax.

After a round of TV interviews on Friday, where the Heenes appeared on NBC’s Today show, as well as multiple other interviews from press camping in their front yard, the Heene’s finally taped a note to their front door indicating they would not be taking any more questions. They thanked everyone for their support, but were tired.

This morning, father Richard Heene placed a box in front of the house for everyone to put their questions into. He indicated that since they have no cable TV, they did not know what the press might be saying about them, but he would attempt to answer any questions that were put into the box.

This evening at 9:25pm ET, Sheriff Alderen confirmed that criminal charges will be filed against the Heene family, confirming suspicions that the balloon boy incident is now believed to be a hoax by the authorities.

Alderden did not say what the charges would be or when they would come, but did say neither parent will be arrested.

The Federal Aviation Administration, however, may still file federal charges against the Heenes because while the balloon was flying over Colorado, all commercial aircraft had been grounded.

While it appears that Colorado authorities have decided that the balloon incident was allegedly a hoax, the actual monetary cost of this incident has yet to be disclosed, nor has there been any final determination about who will pay for the rescue efforts. Costs have been estimated as low as $30,000, and as high as a million dollars and more.

I'm sure we'll be hearing more about Falcon Heene and the Mylar balloon incident in the near future.

Resources:
Six year old boy inside hot air balloon missing
Falcon Heene balloon boy found safe at home

Balloon boy incident media hoax
Charges expected in balloon boy incident

Written by Shelby Bateson

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