A sheriff said he was pursuing criminal charges in Colorado’s “balloon boy” saga, which first sparked fear for the child, then relief that he was OK and now suspicions of a hoax.
Deputies searched the home of the boy’s parents on Saturday night, carrying away several boxes and a computer.
The parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, met with Larimer County investigators for much of Saturday afternoon amid lingering questions about whether the father perpetrated a publicity stunt when his six-year-old son Falcon vanished into the rafters of his garage while the world thought he was zooming through the sky in a flying saucer-like helium balloon.
Sheriff Jim Alderden, however, didn’t say who would be charged or what the charges would be. His deputies later showed up at the Heene’s Fort Collins home with a search warrant and at least three of them began a search. Sergeant Ian Stewart declined so say what they were after.
Alderden on Saturday didn’t call Thursday’s hours-long drama a hoax, but he expressed disappointment that he couldn’t level more serious charges in the incident, which sent police and the military scrambling to save young Falcon Heene as millions of worried TV viewers watched.
“We were looking at Class 3 misdemeanor, which hardly seems serious enough given the circumstances,” Alderden said. “We are talking to the district attorney, federal officials to see if perhaps there aren’t additional federal charges that are appropriate in this circumstance.”
Suspicion that the balloon saga was a hoax arose almost immediately after Falcon was found hiding in a cardboard box. Heene, a storm chaser and inventor whose family has appeared on the reality show Wife Swap, and his wife had said one of the boy’s older brothers said Falcon was aboard the homemade balloon when it took off.
Alderden initially said there was no reason to believe the incident was a hoax. Authorities questioned the Heenes again after Falcon turned to his dad during a CNN interview on Thursday night and said: “You said we did this for a show” when asked why he didn’t come out of his hiding place.
Falcon got sick during two separate TV interviews on Friday when asked again why he hid.
After the sheriff spoke to reporters on Saturday, Richard Heene and his wife walked out of his office after meeting with officials for several hours.
As reporters yelled questions, Heene said: “I was talking to the sheriff’s department just now.”
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