A Colorado couple who falsely claimed that their six-year-old son had floated away aboard a helium balloon have reportedly struck a deal with prosecutors that will allow both of them to escape jail and the wife to avoid possible deportation.
Richard Heene, an amateur inventor, is to plead guilty to the felony of attempting to influence a public servant, according to David Lane, his lawyer. His wife 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 misdemeanour.
Mr Lane said that prosecutors had agreed to allow both to serve probation sentences.
The most serious of the charges recommended by the Larimer County Sheriff, Jim Alderden, would have carried a maximum six years in prison, but the lawyer said that officials had done their best to keep the family together.
“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,” Mr 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.”
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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 when 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 that Mr Heene wanted a show of his own called “The Science Detectives” or “The Psyience Detectives”.
Two days after the balloon boy alert, police 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.
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Mr Lane said Mrs Heene’s statements could not have been used against her husband because of marital privilege, which can keep a person’s spouse from testifying against him or her, but could have been used to convict her of a crime for which she would then have been deported.
“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,” Mr Lane said in a statement.