Balloon Boy case pardon: Parents in infamous saga pardoned by the Governor of Colorado

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Richard and Mayumi Heene pleaded guilty in 2009 after telling authorities their aptly named 6-year-old son Falcon was in a silver helium balloon departing from their backyard. The balloon’s flight into the atmosphere was followed live by media around the world, and the story had a happy ending – Falcon hadn’t been inside the balloon at all and was found home safely.
The family basked in the resulting media attention, but their story fell apart after an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. Richard Heene repeated Blitzer’s question to his son, asking Falcon if he heard his parents shout as they ransacked the house. The boy said yes.

“And why didn’t you come out?” Richard asked.

“You said we were doing this for the show,” Falcon replied.

Authorities later accused the parents of carrying out a hoax as part of a publicity stunt to market themselves for a reality TV show.

'Balloon Boy' and his family move on, rocking to heavy metal

Mayumi Heene pleaded guilty to a felony charge of false reporting to authorities and spent 20 days in prison, and Richard Heene pleaded guilty to attempting to influence an official and spent 90 days in prison.

For his part, Richard Heene has denied that the incident was a sham and claimed to plead guilty to prevent his wife, originally from Japan, from being deported.

Polis, a Democrat who took office in 2019, offered a pardon, saying the parents had paid the price in the eyes of the public.

“In the case of Richard and Mayumi Heene, the ‘balloon boy’ parents, we are all ready to move past the spectacle of ten years ago that wasted the precious time and resources of law enforcement officials and the general public,” Polis said in a statement statement.

Richard and Mayumi have paid the price in the eyes of the public, served their sentences, and it is time for all of us to move on. the rest of their lives. “

In total, Polis pardoned 18 people on Wednesday and commuted the sentences of four others.

CNN’s Greg Botelho contributed to this report.

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