At 1 PM EDT (11 AM MDT) Lamimer County CO Sheriff Jim Alderden held a long press conference, carried on CNN and delaying Fareed Zakaria’s GPS. Alderden said that “Balloon Boy Incident” was a hoax and a publicity stunt, and the result of a “conspiracy” between Richard and Mayumi Heene.
There could follow felony and misdemeanor criminal charges (including contributing to the delinquency of a minor, their son) as well as a civil suit.
The press conference was quite detailed and speculative as to how the law could be applied. The parents have not been arrested yet. The sheriff said that both parents were actors and had met while working as actors, and that they pulled the stunt hoping to attract a TV or Reality Show deal. I don’t know whether a screenplay exists for this!
The CNN story has another link discussing body language analysis in questioning the family.
Apparently the kid spilled the beans to Wolf Blitzer of CNN (Dadddy did it for TV), and then got sick on morning television.
The sheriff also noted that the balloon was not air-worthy. Later reports suggest that the family had accomplices.
This incident shows the absurd lengths some people will go to achieve more than "15 Minutes of Fame".
The silvery balloon looked a lot like a flying saucer from a History Channel UHO Hunters program.
Attribution link for 1875 picture of Fort Collins, pd, from Wikimedia
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