Fort Collins:
The parents accused of concocting a publicity stunt by pretending their young son had climbed aboard a homemade helium balloon and was hurtling through the Colorado skies will surrender to the authorities as soon as charges are filed, the lawyer for the father said on Monday.
David Lane, a Colorado civil rights and defense lawyer who is representing the father, Richard Heene, said both Heene and his wife, Mayumi, would plead not guilty and would turn themselves in to avoid further public spectacle. Lane contended that placing handcuffs on the Heenes, in the full glare of the news media and for their children to see, would be abusive to the youngsters.
The case became a national sensation last Thursday, when the Heenes frantically reported that their 6-year-old son, Falcon, had climbed into the silver flying saucer his father built in their backyard here and had drifted into the sky.
Television coverage of the balloon prompted a large search and rescue operation and captivated millions of people across the country who tracked the flight of "balloon boy."
But when the contraption landed more than 60 miles away, Falcon was nowhere to be found. Hours later, he emerged from a crawl space above the attic of the Heenes' garage, where he had apparently been hiding the entire time.
After initially believing the Heenes' story, investigators grew suspicious when Falcon, in an interview on "Larry King Live," said to his father, "You guys said that, um, we did this for the show."
The Heenes, who had appeared on the show "Wife Swap," have made no secret of their television aspirations, and Falcon's remark prompted the authorities to re-interview them.
At a news conference on Sunday, the Larimer County sheriff, Jim Alderden, said the entire series of events had been an elaborate hoax drummed up by the Heenes to gain attention and leverage for a reality TV show.
Among the charges the Heenes might face, the sheriff said, are three felonies: conspiracy to commit a crime, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and attempt to influence a public servant. The last carries a possible prison term of six years.
Although Lane said he expected charges to be filed on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office, Eloise B. Campanella, said in a statement on Monday that the office did not expect to wrap up its investigation and present the case to the district attorney until next week.
Lane said that he had not seen any evidence gathered by officials and that he hoped the Sheriff's Office would give the Heenes a chance to turn themselves in, given the intense interest in the case.
Amid speculation that local child protection authorities would become involved in the case, Lane said, "I have seen no indication that these kids are anything but well-treated and well-loved kids."
In another twist to the case, the gossip website Gawker paid a 25-year-old Denver man, Robert Thomas, to write about his experience working with Heene, whom Thomas described as a friend and business associate.
In the account posted on Gawker, Thomas said he and Heene had drawn up a pitch for a reality television show centered on off-kilter science experiments. The two planned to pitch the idea to the producers of "Wife Swap," Thomas said.
One proposed episode was based on the launching of a flying saucer to lure UFOs, according to a treatment written by Thomas and posted on Gawker.
"This will be the most significant UFO-related news event to take place since the Roswell Crash of 1947, and the result will be a dramatic increase in local and national awareness about the Heene family, our reality series, as well as the UFO phenomenon in general," Thomas wrote in the treatment.
In an interview on Monday night, Thomas described how he had spent the better part of two months at the Heene home collaborating on a variety of science projects, most prominently the idea for the reality TV show.
Thomas described Heene as obsessed with fame and wild theories, among them that the upper echelon of the American government was actually a race of alien beings called shape-shifters.
Thomas painted a portrait of a chaotic household, with Heene conducting experiments, children running around and a dog barking. But he said the children never appeared afraid of their father.
Heene was especially excited about the UFO episode, Thomas said.
"When this was all over the news," he said of the balloon incident, "the first thing that came to my mind was how it is extremely unlikely that he would have conceived of an idea so similar, and then months later this freak accident manifests."
Neither Thomas nor Gabriel Snyder, editor in chief for Gawker, would disclose how much Thomas had been paid to write for the website. Linda Lee, a lawyer representing Thomas, said Thomas had spoken with sheriff's investigators about the case for about an hour on Sunday evening.
Sheriff's officials did not return calls about Thomas' remarks. Except for a slew of news trucks parked outside the Heene home, there was little sign of the family on Monday. A sign posted on their front door asked reporters to stay away. Another one taped to the house said "Civil liberties: don't leave home without them," and a third said "Parental rights, parental rights, and parental rights." A box for letters of support for the family rested on the front doorstep.