Balloon hoax couple plead guilty

12 April 2012

The Colorado parents accused of pulling a spectacular hoax by reporting their son was aboard a runaway balloon have pleaded guilty to charges that could put them in jail.

Richard Heene pleaded guilty to knowingly and falsely influencing Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden, a felony, in the episode that sent police scrambling to rescue six-year-old Falcon until he was found safe at the family home.

Mayumi Heene, who is a Japanese citizen, pleaded guilty to knowingly filing a false report with emergency services, a misdemeanour.

Richard Heene told judge Stephen Schapanski he understood that he could have to pay restitution for the costs incurred by public agencies because of his actions.

Local and federal authorities spent thousands of dollars pursuing the balloon and searching for Falcon after it landed.

The saga gripped a global audience, first with fear for the safety of Falcon Heene as the balloon drifted 50 miles across northern Colorado, and then with anger at his parents when authorities accused them of perpetrating a hoax.

Mr Schapanski told Mayumi Heene that her plea didn't automatically prevent any action by federal authorities regarding her immigration status. Her attorney, Lee Christian, acknowledged that was the case but said avoiding a trial could reduce the consequences.

Chief deputy district attorney Andrew Lewis told the judge that prosecutors always intended to charge Mayumi Heene with a misdemeanour based on her co-operation with authorities and what he called her lower level of culpability in the incident. He insisted prosecutors never used the threat of deportation in her case - contrary to what Richard Heene's attorney, David Lane, had said.

Mr Christian said the possibility of going to trial and risking a felony conviction was one of "many reasons" Mayumi Heene wanted to plead guilty.

Both attorneys said their clients had no plans to talk publicly at least until after their sentencing. A sentencing hearing will be held on December 23.

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