Balloon boy' dad sentenced to time in jail

[joeybee12]

Source: msnbc.com

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Richard Heene was sentenced to 90 days in jail, including 60 days work release, for fabricating a story that his 6-year-old son had been carried off by a homemade balloon. His wife Mayumi was to be sentenced shortly.

Before the sentencing, which included 4 years of probation, Richard Heene choked back tears as he stood before the judge and apologized: "I do want to reiterate that I'm very, very sorry."

The judge also imposed conditions on Heene’s probation that forbid him from profiting from the balloon spectacle in any way for four years.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34574260/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

---

Good.

[Renew Deal]

1. Good, next up...The WH party crashers.

:D

[joeybee12]

3. Yeah, but they're probably already going to go to jail for fraud

and non-payment of many, many outstanding bills.

[Liberal_in_LA]

22. they should

[onehandle]

8. Yes. They need to end up in a Federal Penitentiary.

I feel that about all talentless fame wannabes.

[ShortnFiery]

36. Yes, I'd much rather those sh*t-heads end up in jail before the Balloon Boy's dad.

IMO, there's sort of a "tragic character flaw" but still LIKABLE aire about him. The WH Party Crashers? ... not at all. :shrug:

[Hawkeye-X]

2. How about he profit nothing

And banished from his job as a storm chaser.

[robo50]

4. His "job" is just a hobby, he really doesn't make money.

as far as I know.

The best punishment for this guy is that he becomes as unknown as the rest of us for the rest of his days on Earth.

[joeybee12]

5. He's certainly heading that way now...n/t

[DavidDvorkin]

6. Oh, there might be a book in his future

And perhaps a TV show of some sort.

[cstanleytech]

59. Which is why its to bad as part of his sentencing the judge didnt require him

to put any money over $35,000.00 a year that he makes for the next 12 years into a trust fund overseen by the court for his son for college.

[Gregorian]

7. Dick Cheney must be giggling like a school girl.

But seriously, I was getting sick of these kinds of shenanigans. Although I already see the documentary. How Balloon Boys Dad Survived the Cells of Fort Collins!

[Exultant Democracy]

9. I don't know what wrong with me, but I just don't understand why we send so many people to jail

yeah what he did sucks, but couldn't we find a way to punish him that would be cheaper and more beneficial to us? Honesty I'm baffled as to why we would want to lock this guy in a cage for a few months and pay a bunch of people to watch him, is isn't like he is a rabid dog. House arrest and serious community service for all non-violent offenders. Except white collar criminals since the level of victimization they cause is tantamount to violence in many cases for example when they loot a companies pension plan so that retirees can't afford their medication.

[DuckyCase]

10. Yeah...

In this situation, a really steep fine would probably be sufficient for this guy to "pay his debt to society."

[superconnected]

17. I think the idea is to stop others from doing it. May people won't care about a fine

can't take blood from a turnip.

[pitohui]

30. there's nothing wrong w. you, there's a lot wrong with some of the other comments in this thread

it is ridiculous to send someone to jail for a hoax, keep him working, keep him productive, have him pay off the fine etc.

sending people to jail because, in desperation, they went too far to try to better themselves is cruel and hateful, esp. at xmas

the desire to crush people utterly because they want to earn and to improve their lives...i simply don't understand that

yes, a punishment is appropriate and if they were repeat offenders of some type it would be another matter

but they did something stupid that, at the end of the day, hurt no one except it made some reporters look like the mouth breathing hangers-on that they are

the trouble is, we live in a society where vengeance and hatred are highly valued, and where mercy is held in contempt

most people in this thread won't be happy if this family ever has a chance to earn a decent living and provide for their children

we live in a society where there are not enough good jobs for everything, it is well known that over 80 percent of jobs are filled by personal recommendation, and if you have the bad taste NOT to be born into the right circles, with the "right" family background, GOD HELP YOU if you do anything to improve your chances of getting ahead -- it's crabs in a bucket -- the right stunt makes you hero (see susan boyle) and the wrong stunt makes you a zero and the public is quick to hate and tear you apart for daring to have a small dream

we also live in a society where jails and prisons are being operated for profit, and you'd better believe that a non violent prisoner who causes few problems is a more "profitable" prisoner than a violent offender -- thus we have created a society where judges seem to be quicker to put a non violent offender in jail and to find some excuse to set the violent offender free

hoaxes, party crashers, pot smokers, people who talk back to flight attendants, etc -- none of these folks necessarily belong in jail, but we need new laws that take the profit out of the prison industry -- as for those who would take away another human being's very freedom for trivial reasons or for no reason at all, let the same happen to their child and to everyone they love and then let it happen to them

[Frank Cannon]

53. He's on work release, if that makes you feel better

The dad's a piece of shit and, IMHO, deserves worse than what he is getting. Watching his poor little son shake like a chihuahua and throw up on camera whenever asked about out his dad's lie, as if on cue, told me everything about his parents that I need to know.

[izquierdista]

44. Privatized prisons

Their CEOs need bonuses too!

[Pavulon]

46. 90 days is county jail around here.

sounds about right for this moron. No vast conspiracy, just another asshole getting locked up.

[izquierdista]

47. Increases the 'demand' for prison beds

Which some capitalist is very willing to 'supply'. No vast conspiracy, just capitalism at work.

[Pavulon]

49. Here it just means more assholes in a cell

same shitty county jail for the last 20 years. Supply is, how do you say, non-elastic. Maybe different out west, still this jerk was lucky to get 90 days in county jail and a fatty fine.

[Hepburn]

11. Jail for (both) "balloon boy" parents

Source: The Denver Post

FORT COLLINS — Richard and Mayumi Heene, the Fort Collins couple who took law enforcement officers and the television-watching world for a ride when he claimed his son was adrift high over northern Colorado in a home-made balloon, were sentenced to jail time today for perpetrating the hoax.

Richard Heene, who last month pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant, will have to serve 30 days of the sentence full-time in the Larimer County jail, with the remaining 60 days served on work-release. Larimer County Court Judge Stephen Schapanski said Heene would start serving the jail sentence on Jan. 11.

"I will delay this until after the holiday in fairness mostly to his children,"

...snip...

Mayumi Heene, who helped hatch the scheme and who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of false reporting, was sentenced to 20 days of jail, to be served through a program that allows her to perform jail-supervised community service a couple days a week and return home at night.





Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_14055721

---

The father was sentenced first and today the mom also received "jail time" although she is allowed to return home in the evening. I am sure the judge did this in consideration of the minor children at home so that there would be no foster care involved.

From the article ~~ a deal was made because the mom is not a US citizen and could be deported back to Japan.

[Love Bug]

12. Yet Karl Rove still walks free...

These people are idiots and personally I feel having to pay the $45k restitution is punishment enough. When I think that they will stand more jail time than Rove, Bush and Cheney put together it pisses me off. As a country our priorities are all out of whack.

[Auggie]

13. +1

Couldn't have posted it better.

Jail is really severe.

[FourScore]

55. +1

[montanacowboy]

14. Good

maybe these nuts will think twice before pulling another stunt like this

[xultar]

15. They should deport the father's ass instead.

[DURHAM D]

16. to where? nt

[Freddie Stubbs]

18. Here:

[xultar]

19. I hear the south pole is beautiful this time of year.

[Vidar]

20. Good.

[Liberal_in_LA]

21. good

[lunatica]

23. So when are they going after Bush, Rove, Cheney and Rumsfeld?

Don't we have the greatest judicial system in the world?

[robo50]

41. No we have the greatest Health Care system, where poor families pay

and rich people get off with no charge.

I would be happy if he goes to jail for 3 months, as long as Bush and his buddies go for 30 years.

[Pavulon]

45. Some jerk goes to county jail. For fucking the taxpayer out of

shit ton of money and time. Not like they are drawing and quartering him. Christ , its just county jail.

[TheWatcher]

52. And the criminals who led us into an illegal WAR, and are responsible for the death of hundreds

of thousands are untouched.

Ain't that America?

[Pavulon]

58. unrelated. The people who wrecked my 401k and stole the tarp money, OJ Simpson,

and the guy selling crack on the corner are also unrelated. Why is everyone obsessed with the universal string theory of Bush?

[lunatica]

61. Because evidently unlike you

We hold Bush et al accountable for crimes they committed. Being from the ruling class doesn't mean a crime committed by them is OK. Although you seem to think that's just obsession. Why is that?

[TheWatcher]

51. Only The Rabble Are held Accountable In Pleasantville.

The real Criminals get to loot, rob, steal, pillage, and murder at their leisure, unabated.

And they have Health CARE.

[Jkid]

24. Sounds excessive

Restitution is justice enough. No need to send a non-violent offender to jail.

[Hepburn]

29. I disagree...

...he caused hardships to others and it was, IMO, abusive of his children. Violence is not the only reason for jail time. In this case, IMO, someone needed to get this asshole's attention.

[Ed76638]

32. What hardships?

Because some fat pigs had to run out in field, thats worth 90 days in jail?

The people who are soooo outraged over this are just a bunch of butthurt motherfuckers.

Fuck Em'.

[Pavulon]

48. Word?

it costs money to run helicopters, divert aircraft, and pay people overtime to try to save some kid. Yep, 90 days for that bit of twattery sounds right and the $40,000 bill for everyone to clean up his shit.

Life is not your personal charity, fuckup payup.

[superconnected]

25. As long as this helps stop others from trying this to get attention I'll accept this resolution.

I think that stopping others is the point of the jail time.

[pitohui]

31. "stopping others" ? what fucking others?

people need to use a little common sense here

what others are going about claiming that their kid has sailed off in a balloon?

this is a one-off, there were never going to be any "others" to stop

now if the point is to harshly punish people for having a dream and trying to get attention so they can get on teevee and have a little bit of the american pie, instead of struggling forever for nothing...well...that's just hateful, isn't it?

if you can't get publicity and you're not born to the right connections, you're just supposed to choke on it and never dream and never try and just stay home and watch other people have their lives on teevee? really? now i understand that most people are perfectly willing to accept a shit sandwich but i don't see why a few people who have a dream need to be utterly crushed for it, life will crush them soon enough, since very few dreams will ever be realized

[superconnected]

34. I doubt others would pull the balloon stunt but it doesn't take a brain surgeon

to see many media whores would pull stunts to get instantly famous and or be reality tv stars like these people did.

These people got 90 days in jail, how crushed do you think they really are?

[boppers]

38. "trying to get attention".... that's okay for children, who don't know any better

For adults, who then shut down air traffic, require chase vehicles and massive manpower, and cause a national-level aviation chase incident?

Uhm, no.

They wanted attention, they got it, now they get to pay the price for it.

[DFW]

26. The theme song to this episode was already a hit 40 years ago:

Wouldn't you like to ride in my beautiful balloon
Wouldn't you like to ride in my beautiful balloon
We could float among the stars together, you and I
For we can fly we can fly
Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon

(Up, Up and Away by The Fifth Dimension)

[shadowknows69]

28. lol, nice.

[KansDem]

33. C'mon! Don't stop with just the lyrics!

Up

Brings back memories!

...groovy outfits!

[DFW]

35. I'll see your original and raise you one

I redid the lyrics for the occasion:

Wouldn’t you like to stare at my beautiful balloon?
Our son isn’t there in my beautiful balloon
We could fool the television news teams, you and I
For it can fly, it can fly
Up, up and away
My beautiful, beautiful balloon

The world’s ripe for a scam with my beautiful balloon
They say “sir” and “ma’am” with my beautiful balloon
My son’s not in it, but Wolf Blitzer doesn’t know
So watch it go, watch it go!
Up, up and away
My beautiful my beautiful balloon

Suspended under a cloud of doubt, we are
We’ll search for someone to believe us
If by some chance you find yourself buying this
Let’s hope they never test us
Before they come arrest us

Fame is waiting there in my beautiful balloon
Way up in the air in my beautiful balloon
If our luck holds out we’ll chase some bucks across the sky
For it can fly, it can fly
Up, up and away
My beautiful, beautiful balloon
Balloon…
Up, up and away

[KansDem]

39. !

:rofl:

Excellent parody! :thumbsup:

[Frank Cannon]

54. Nicely done

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[shadowknows69]

27. Enjoy fuckhead.

[ShortnFiery]

37. I can't get too angry because there's something "not right" about him.

It's hard to describe save for ... well, he's not the sharpest tool in the shed ... but it's hard for me to hate him . :shrug:

[Devil_Fish]

43. about as sharp as a hammer, only less usefull.

[seeinfweggos]

40. good

hopefully future wanna be media whores will take notice.

[alp227]

42. Recognition by dishonesty has been done before

If you don't remember or haven't heard of it, in 2005 a Las Vegas woman sued Wendy's because she claimed to have found a severed finger in her chili. However, an Associated Press report showed that she filed many frivolous lawsuits before. I live in San Jose, and because the incident took place in a Wendy's in my hometown it got a lot of attention locally...and I remember it well because that was right before the media gave extensive coverage to other "human drama" stories like the Michael Jackson trial and disappearance of Natalee Holloway. The woman, Anna Ayala, and her husband were sentenced to 9 years in prison for fraud. (She appealed though.)

As long as people remain exploitative, hoaxes will never end.

[Wizard777]

50. That's 90 days more than Bush will ever get for his hoax.

So Heene should have killed 1.5 million people with his hoax if he didn't want to go to jail for it. :eyes: :banghead: Dear God, KILL ME NOW! KILL ME NOW!

[snooper2]

60. Some random dude got a DUI last night in Dallas..

I guess we should hold off any trial till Chimpy is in cuff's eh?

:eyes: :eyes:

[Wizard777]

62. No, it would be much better to cry endlessly over spilt milk.

:eyes:

[snooper2]

63. lol

:hi:

[FourScore]

56. Yet the criminals of Wall Street and the Bush administration still walk free...n/t.

[Pavulon]

57. Not everything is related to the Bush administration...or hitler for that matter.

I see this silliness from time to time. "Man molests 15 kids" response " he got life and bush gets nothing"

At this point there needs to be a pavulon's law that injecting bush into a non related topic is an instant kill.

Like bringing up hitler here, I mean can we squeeze that in too.

[Chemisse]

64. This guy is just really really sorry that he got caught

I hope this jail term teaches his sons some lessons about right and wrong that his fraudulent parents seem unable to teach.