Sheriff Jim Alderden: Balloon Boy Incident A Hoax, 3 Felonies Are Being Considered

Run time: 09:53 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05nSIDOwZ20   Posted on YouTube: October 18, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: October 18, 2009 By DU Member: Turborama Views on DU: 2323

 
In this clip he explains how they planned to get a confession, what they were looking for when they made the search of the Henne's property and at the end he starts talking about the charges.

When they were taking questions another dude piped in and made it even clearer what the charges would be. Will add that clip if it gets uploaded.

The sheriff also said this about Richard Heene: "His education level is only high school ... he may be nutty, but he's not a professor."

Sheriff Calls Balloon Chase a Hoax

NYT

By JOSEPH BERGER and BRIAN STELTER

=snip=

“It has been determined that this is a hoax, that it was a publicity stunt,” the Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said at a news conference in Fort Collins, Colo., one day after re-interviewing members of the now-famous Heene family about the case. “We have evidence to indicate it was a publicity stunt done with the hope of marketing themselves to a realty television show sometime in the future.”

Richard Heene and his wife Mayumi have not yet been arrested, but the sheriff said that among the charges being considered are three felonies: conspiracy between the husband and the wife to commit a crime, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and an attempt to influence a public servant., the last of which carries a prison term of six years. The charges could also include a misdemeanor, filing a false report.

The sheriff said his conclusions were based on separate interviews of the Heenes and their three children as well as searches of their computers, e-mail records and documents found in their home. He said the plot to launch a balloon and tell authorities that Falcon was aboard was planned two weeks ago, with the aim of obtaining a contract to do a reality TV show.

He said authorities had asked a professor of physics at Colorado State University whether the balloon could actually fly with a 37-pound boy inside. The professor determined that this particular balloon could not even though the compartment, patched together with duct tape and plywood, could carry the boy.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/us/19balloon.html?_r=1

With people deeply in need of even basic services, there is no excuse for this stunt that cost thousands. No sympathy here. Jail time.

... it shut down Denver's airport for a couple of hours. The final bill will be in the hundreds of thousand of $s. If
not millions.

Balloon Landing Turns Crop to Crap

Posted Oct 17th 2009 8:20AM by TMZ Staff

The infamously boy-less balloon caused even more trouble than we thought on Thursday -- because its landing also wreaked havoc on a valuable wheat crop desperately needed by a local family.

TMZ spoke with Doug and Joanna Abbott who told us their 300-acre wheat crop was destroyed mostly by emergency vehicles racing across their field to chase the balloon -- which also caused its fair share of damage.

The couple tells TMZ: "It does make you wonder what kind of attention the family was after by using this little boy."

Sadly, we're told the field only produces a crop of wheat once every two years, which means the couple will have to wait two more years to see the full fruit of their labors ... all because of some giant empty publicity stunt balloon.

We asked if the couple would be considering their legal options -- but they wouldn't say.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/category/balloon-boy/#ixzz0UJeTSnO0

Excuse me professor of physics... No real reason for asking, but could this balloon, which we have no intention of putting our 37-pound boy in, no intention at all, carry oh... 37 pounds, hypothetically speaking?

TlalocW

prof to inquire into the weight-carrying capacity. Not the parents.

"Secondly, Falcon supposedly hid in that attic in the garage. I've spent a lot of time in his garage, which has a drill press and various welding tools. It's unorganized and chaotic. There's really not so much an attic as some support beams connected with plywood. Being an adult of average height, I couldn't get up into the attic if I'd wanted to, so I don't know how a six-year-old child could have gotten up there. There's not an easy way to access that overhang. Maybe if I'd lifted that child up into the attic, he might have been able to rest up there, but not comfortably.
"


http://gawker.com/5383858/exclusive-i-helped-richard-heene-plan-a-balloon-hoax

and attention-seeking behavior. When I was in college there in the 70s and early 80s, people from California who so much as dressed too flashily were spoken of derisively by much of the community, and were seen as frivolous showoffs and much too full of themselves.

They probably want to leave the Heene's with the urge to return to CA when all this winds down.

These people are square pegs to the round hole that is the Fort.

More details emerge regarding the charges and possible sentences from 5:34: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23yzi3Cm5vQ

in on the conspiracy. This sheriff is full of shit, vote him out.

Is it possible that he had all three sons in on it? Absolutely. For example, watch the interview with Wolf Blitzer again and watch their body language. For example, one of the kids keeps putting his finger to his mouth as in, "shhh, we need to keep a secret".

I watched how he interacts with his sons during that Wife Swap show they were on and immediately thought that he's got the same mental age as Falcon: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x389250

people live on TV I would make three boys under ten years old my co-conspirators.

Or are you?

"Mayumi described that she and Richard Heene devised this hoax approximately two weeks earlier.... She and Richard had instructed their three children to lie to authorities as well as the media regarding this hoax," the affidavit said.

More: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4117049

Number 12 on page 3 says she confessed on October 17: http://www.mynocodata.com/special_reports/heene2009.pdf