JPHiP Forum

General => General Discussion => Topic started by: THUNDERDUCK on October 15, 2009, 09:36:31 PM

Title: Boy, 6, floats away in homemade balloon
Post by: THUNDERDUCK on October 15, 2009, 09:36:31 PM
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – A 6-year-old boy climbed into a homemade balloon aircraft in Colorado and floated away Thursday, forcing officials to scramble to figure out how to rescue the boy as the balloon hurtled through the air. The bizarre scene played out live on television and prompted fears that the flying saucer-shaped balloon would crash with the young child inside. The balloon rotated slowly in the wind, tipping precariously at times.

Cathy Davis of the Larimer County Sheriff's Department told reporters the balloon was owned by the boy's parents and tethered behind the family's home. She said two sons were playing outside when the older boy saw the younger one go into a compartment at the bottom of the balloon and fly away.

"We'll just have to respond the best we can," Davis said. "This is a first and we'll do what we need to do."

She said the family was in contact with experts to provide details on the craft, including what it's made of and what might happen when it reaches the ground.

Capt. Troy Brown of the Colorado Army National Guard said an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter was in the air and a Black Hawk UH-60 was also about to take off.

Brown said one chopper would be equipped with a hoist normally used to raise people from the ground in rescues. In this case it could be used to lower someone to the balloon.

Brown said the Army Guard is also working with pilots of ultralight aircraft on the possibility of putting weights on the homemade craft to weigh it down. It wasn't immediately clear if the goal was to bring the craft to the ground or to just lower its elevation.

Brown said there would be a medic on one of the helicopters.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said the agency is tracking the balloon through reports from pilots and that air traffic control facilities in the region are aware of the situation.

Larimer County sheriff's spokeswoman Eloise Campanella said the device had the potential to rise to 10,000 feet. Sheriff's officials last saw the device floating south of Milliken, which is about 40 miles north of Denver.

"We were sitting eating, out looking where they normally shoot off hot air balloons. My husband said he saw something. It went over our rooftop. Then we saw the big round balloonish thing, it was spinning," said neighbor Lisa Eklund.

Additional details about the child and the balloon were not immediately available.

"By the time I saw it, it traveled pretty fast," Eklund said.

Title: Re: Boy, 6, floats away in homemade balloon
Post by: usagi_no_kami on October 15, 2009, 10:11:36 PM
The balloon is down. Apparently the winds that were carrying it just went away and the balloon landed in a  field. They boy was NOT inside.
The house has reportedly been checked thoroughly several times and he is not there and there are some reports that some are reporting that they might've seen something fall from the ballon.

EDIT: 4:07 p.m. MT- The boy has been found... alive. He was at home. Though it was earlier reported that they searched the house and didn't find him. :?

EDIT2: It's been reported that he was hiding in a cardboard box in the attic above the garage.
Title: Re: Boy, 6, floats away in homemade balloon
Post by: Asmodai on October 16, 2009, 12:10:54 AM
:o

I'm glad he's OK. What a weird story.
Title: Re: Boy, 6, floats away in homemade balloon
Post by: JTRIX on October 16, 2009, 04:32:00 AM
ya... I heard about this news when I was working. Kind of funny and weird. Glad the kid was ok but the parents should look after him more carefully!
Title: Re: Boy, 6, floats away in homemade balloon
Post by: kuro808 on October 16, 2009, 09:07:10 AM
That was rather bizzare until they found him hiding at home

that was worth 15 minutes
Title: Re: Boy, 6, floats away in homemade balloon
Post by: THUNDERDUCK on October 20, 2009, 02:47:16 AM
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Investigators pored over e-mails, phone records and financial documents from the home of Richard Heene on Monday as they weighed felony charges and sought to determine who else might have helped the alleged balloon-boy hoax get off the ground.

The sheriff's office said its findings will be forwarded to prosecutors next week to decide if Richard and Mayumi Heene should be charged with falsely reporting that their 6-year-old child had drifted away in a large home-built helium balloon to drum up publicity for a reality TV show.

But the investigation could reach beyond the Heenes, possibly into the world of reality-show promotions.

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said documents show that a media outlet had agreed to pay the Heenes. Alderden did not name the organization but said it was in an industry that blurs "the line between entertainment and news."

It was not clear whether the deal was signed before or after the alleged hoax, or whether the media outlet was a possible conspirator. If so, the organization could face charges as well.

Public spectacle
The Heenes are amateur storm chasers who apparently wanted to star in a reality show that focused on a range of absurd experiments, such as attracting UFOs with a weather balloon, launching a model rocket into space and conducting an electromagnetic analysis of a terminally ill patient's spirit before death.

Robert Thomas, a collaborator who worked with Richard Heene on the idea, provided an e-mail to the Web site Gawker.com outlining his plan for the show. The sheriff's department questioned Thomas on Sunday night after he revealed that Heene was planning a media stunt to promote the show, according to the researcher's lawyer, Linda Lee.

Thomas told investigators what he observed about the couple and "intimate details about their home life," Lee said. "He noticed things that were definitely not right. ... Some of the things are kind of shocking that Mr. Heene did, but we're not going to discuss specifics," Lee said.

Lee said investigators told her Thomas does not face charges and is not a person of interest in the case. However, she said she is seeking immunity for him before he turns over documents and e-mails with Heene, "just to be safe." Thomas has said he had no idea that a possible hoax would involve the Heene children.

With television cameras and reporters set up outside the Heene home, defense lawyer David Lane stressed that the Heenes are willing to turn themselves in to avoid the spectacle of a public arrest.

Lane declined to say directly whether he believes the incident was a hoax but said the Heenes are innocent unless convicted. The Heenes remained holed up in their home until midafternoon, when they left in a pickup truck without commenting.

If prosecutors "can prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, that's one thing. If they can't prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, that's another," Lane told The Associated Press.

Mayumi Heene retained her own lawyer, signaling the family is gearing up for a legal fight. The lawyer, Lee Christian, declined to comment on whether the couple still maintains they thought their son was in the balloon.

"I've got to see what the charges are before I can comment on the facts of the case," he said.

Christian said neither he nor his client has been contacted by authorities about whether the couple's children might be taken from them. Alderden has said child protective services was contacted to investigate the children's well-being.

Christian said it's routine for a couple to have separate lawyers if each might face criminal charges.  Lee said based on what Thomas has said about the couple, she hoped Mayumi Heene would not be charged.

"I think if Mr. Heene had it in his mind to do something, I just don't think she would have enough strength to stand up against him," Lee said.

Felony charges
Alderden said he is seeking charges against the Heenes that include conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, making a false report to authorities and attempting to influence a public servant.

The most serious charges are felonies and carry a maximum sentence of six years in prison. Alderden said authorities would be seeking restitution for the costs, though he did not have an estimate. Alderden said the children were still with the parents and that child protective services had been contacted to investigate their well-being.

It's also possible that Heene could face federal charges because he called the Federal Aviation Administration to report his son missing in the balloon. Those charges could include lying to the federal government, a count similar to the one that sent Martha Stewart to prison in her stock-fraud case.

The balloon spectacle was not the first time Richard Heene has run afoul of the law.

He was arrested in April 1997 and charged with three misdemeanors — vandalism, vehicle tampering and disturbing the peace, according to court documents. He pleaded no contest to vandalism and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, two years probation and ordered to pay $100 restitution, according to Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney's office.

The other two charges were dropped. Mateljan said he did not know who the victim was, and no details on the case were available.

'Wife Swap' appearances
It's still not known who else was working with Heene to launch the reality show. The sheriff's department refused to answer questions Monday.

Heene has a profile listed on a Web site that helps people get cast in reality shows, and the site said he last logged on in late September — around the time investigators said the hoax was taking root.

The site lists his occupation as a research scientist and general contractor with a high school education.
The Heenes twice appeared on ABC's "Wife Swap," including an episode in March in which they talk about their belief that they are the descendants of aliens and discuss their approach to parenting. At one point, Richard Heene is seen screaming and throwing a drink in a participant's face.

The producer of "Wife Swap" had a show in development with the Heenes but said the deal is now off. The TLC cable network also said Heene had pitched a reality show months ago, but it passed on the offer.

On the Heenes' front door Monday hung a paper sign with the phrase, "civil liberties don't leave home without them." On the doorstep, some people left a box for letters of support, with an American flag on top.

Title: Re: Boy, 6, floats away in homemade balloon
Post by: shurastriker on October 21, 2009, 12:45:29 AM
you know, it just feels like a scam...

so this man might get arrested for doing this eh? Then all i can say is that USA media is so easy to manipulate :(
Title: Re: Boy, 6, floats away in homemade balloon
Post by: kuro808 on October 21, 2009, 02:01:46 AM
^ totally agree, especially the insiders media where they try to expose them.  Any thing to make money and get viewers  :smhid :thumbdown:
Title: Re: Boy, 6, floats away in homemade balloon
Post by: THUNDERDUCK on November 12, 2009, 04:32:11 PM
DENVER – The Colorado parents who reported their 6-year-old son floated away aboard a helium balloon will plead guilty to some charges in an attempt to keep the family together, the attorney for the boy's father said Thursday.

Richard Heene will plead guilty to attempting to influence a public servant, a felony, his attorney David Lane said. Mayumi Heene — a Japanese citizen who could have been deported if convicted of more serious charges — will plead guilty to false reporting to authorities, a misdemeanor, he said.

Prosecutors have agreed to allow both to serve probation sentences, Lane said. The Oct. 15 event raised questions about whether the couple were fit parents, and social workers were contacted. Lane didn't address whether the pleas would include monitoring of the couple, and prosecutors did not immediately return a phone message Thursday morning. Mayumi Heene's attorney, Lee Christian, also did not return a call.

The most serious of the charges recommended by Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden would have carried a maximum sentence of six years in prison.

Keeping the family together was a main factor in reaching the deal, Lane said.

"Upon reviewing the evidence, arguably, Mayumi could have possibly ended up being deported and Richard could have proceeded to trial and had a good chance at an acquittal," Lane said. "This, however, would have put the family at grave risk of seeing a loving, caring, compassionate wife and mother ripped from the family and deported. That was not an acceptable risk, thus these pleas."

Richard and Mayumi Heene's frantic calls to authorities, saying they feared their son Falcon might be aboard a homemade balloon that had escaped from their suburban Fort Collins back yard, triggered a frenzied response before the balloon landed in a dusty farm field without the boy inside. The Heenes said they found Falcon at home — hiding, they said.

Relief soon turned to suspicion. During a live interview on CNN hours after the balloon chase, Falcon looked to his father and said, "You had said that we did this for a show."

The Heenes had twice appeared on the ABC reality show "Wife Swap," and former business partners said Richard Heene wanted a show of his own called "The Science Detectives" or "The Psyience Detectives."

On Oct. 17, deputies questioned both parents separately. Richard Heene, 48, adamantly denied the saga was a publicity stunt. But Mayumi Heene, 45, admitted the incident was a hoax, according to a search warrant affidavit.

Lane said Mayumi Heene's statements likely couldn't have been used against her husband because of marital privilege, which can keep a person's spouse from testifying against him or her.

"Unfortunately, the prosecutors insisted upon a package deal where Richard would have to fall on his sword and take a felony plea despite the fact that he made no incriminating statements to law enforcement and Mayumi's statements could not be used against him," Lane said in a statement.
Title: Re: Boy, 6, floats away in homemade balloon
Post by: shadowstar on November 12, 2009, 04:42:57 PM
(http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy30/ashbottom/attichideout.jpg)

(http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii77/Benis_02/Balloon_Boy_Hoax_-_141.jpg)