'Balloon boy' parents sentenced

[The Straight Story]

'Balloon boy' parents sentenced

(CNN) -- A judge in Colorado sentenced the father who in October falsely reported his 6-year-old son was aloft in an escaped balloon to 90 days on Wednesday.

The judge indicated that Richard Heene will spend part of the time in jail and the rest on work release.

He is to begin his sentence after the holidays.

Heene tearfully apologized during the hearing.

"I'm very, very sorry, and I want to apologize to all the rescue workers out there and the people who got involved in the community. That's it," Richard Heene said.

Earlier, a prosecutor revealed the search-and-rescue launched in response to the incident cost at least $47,000 and said Richard Heene and his wife, Mayumi, should pay restitution to the various agencies that participated.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/23/colorado.balloon.boy.sentencing/index.html

[nc4bo]

1. Heene is quite the hiney for pulling such a dumb arse stunt like that.

Good that he gets some punishment for his greed and mindless stupidity.

[charlie and algernon]

2. he should be thanking his lucky stars if it ONLY ends up being $47k

That's a hell of a lot of money anyway, but with all the man hours used by the police and rescue, it easily could have been $100,000+.

[SoCalDem]

7. The FAA has not concluded its investigation

there still may be federal charges..as well there should be.. Hoax-sters have to be shown that there will be consequences.. many people these days, see "fame" as the ultimate goal, and will do just about anything to get some:(

[charlie and algernon]

9. Weren't planes rerouted to avoid hitting the balloon?

That alone should warrant hefty Federal fines. I agree that they should make it known that if you commit a major hoax that actually affects plane schedules, you are going to pay one hell of a fine and spend a year in jail.

[theoldman]

3. His wife should also be punished.

[kestrel91316]

4. That's happening momentarily.

[SoCalDem]

5. she got a suspended sentence

She should have served 30 days when he came home..and the kids should have been sent to Grandparents or another relative while they were serving time.

[kestrel91316]

10. Agreed.

[LastNaturalist]

6. I support the death penalty for attention-seeking fame whores.

[Aristus]

8. Oh shit. Now when he gets out, he can star in "I'm In Jail! Get Me Out Of Here!" on TV.

:mad::grr::mad::grr::mad:

[WI_DEM]

11. What a couple of publicity seeking jack asses they are.

[Quantess]

12. Nice to get some closure on that annoying spectacle of a hoax.

Thanks for posting this.