Richard Heene "Terrifying," Associate Says

Alleged Mastermind of Balloon Boy Hoax Has "Trouble Staying Focused and Balanced," Another Former Partner Claims

(CBS)  Richard Heene, the Colorado man at the center of the alleged "balloon boy" hoax, was "terrifying" to be around at times and has created an unsafe environment for his three sons, two former associates told CBS' "The Early Show".

Barbara Slusser, who worked with Heene as a stormchaser and appeared with him in the reality show "Wife Swap" said he could be "a lot of fun" sometimes, but "it could be terrifying at times when he'd go off. It was a three-ring circus."

Slusser described an incident during the filming of "Wife Swap" when she was prodded by a producer to say something about women, which made Heene go "ballistic."

"He jumped off the couch, ran down the hall, grabbed some toilet paper, and ran back and was physically trying to shove it in my mouth for my 'verbal diarrhea,'" Slusser said. "And then on top of it, once we quit, he starts screaming 'She's out of here! Get her out of my house. She can't do the show anymore.'"

Slusser didn't mention the specific comment that set Heene off.

Follow the Balloon Boy Saga at CBSNews.com:

Ex-Associate: Heene Obsessed with Fame
Lawyer:Should Balloon Boy's Parents Lose Kids?
Lawyer: Balloon Boy Parents will Surrender
Cops Seek Possible Balloon Boy Hoax Cohort
Sheriff: Balloon Boy Saga Full of Hot Air
More on the "Balloon Boy" Story at Crimesider

Scott Stevens, another former partner, said Heene was a "handful" that has "trouble staying focused and balanced."

"The one thing I wish Richard would have displayed a little more of was patience. He was very, very short patience. And once that patience was gone, Then he was angry," Stevens said, though he added that he never saw Heene get violent toward another person.

"He really had a hard time containing himself, when he was happy or sad or anything. He just lived on that edge."

The Heenes are expected to be charged this week with falsely reporting their 6-year-old son Falcon was on board a homemade UFO-shaped balloon accidentally floated away from their home. The balloon ascended thousands of feet in the air and eventually traveled 50 miles before landing in a field two hours later. With no child found on board, rescue workers feared he may have fallen out during the flight only to find that he had been safely at home the entire time.

Heene allegedly staged the event to drum up publicity for a reality show he was pitching.

Stevens has no doubt the alleged stunt, calling it "a hoax it from the beginning."

Slusser and Stevens also both agreed that Heene and his wife, Mayumi, exposed their three children - 10-year-old Bradford, 8-year-old Ryo and Falcon - to danger.

"The one time I felt that it was extremely poor judgment on his behalf was taking those kids into the eye of Hurricane Gustav," Slusser said of one of his stormchasing expeditions.

Stevens said the kids "need to be in a better environment."

[eelyn-2009]

CNN was excited to air it 24/7 so as to distract us from Obama and his bunch.

[Void_Master]

by mcdanel_1771 October 22, 2009 12:39 PM EDT

An earlier poster suggested Mr. Heene could be bi-polar. A more realistic assessment is manic. As for people who are bi-polar, if they seek help it will be for their depressive phases. They love their manic phase, and don't recognize their mania as the other half of the coin.

***

Have you ever seen the kind of damage a bi-polar can do with a credit card during a manic episode? And then there is their risky s.e.x.u.a.l behavior.

Trust me. After a while the stop "loving the manics."

[Virgil-1]

People will do about anything to be in the movies.Hellywood here I come!

[mcdanel_1771]

An earlier poster suggested Mr. Heene could be bi-polar. A more realistic assessment is manic. As for people who are bi-polar, if they seek help it will be for their depressive phases. They love their manic phase, and don't recognize their mania as the other half of the coin.

[mintrose]

what is Colorado law enforcement waiting for?..... five dead bodies?

this man (richard heene) is obviously mental...

.....get those kids away from him!

[N0Tmine]

In my humble opinion , I honestly believe that Mr. Henne has earned his position on a high paying cable program .

I mean ..... if the most outrageous hoax in recent history was rewarded by giving the perpetrator his own cable position , mr. Henne should also be rewarded . At least his hoax (fabricated story) was NOT an attempt to change the outcome of an American Presidential Election like mr. Rathers' was .

[janeyre-2009]

Hmmm, you are really funny... This guy, should be locked up... Those children are being exploited, just like the other nuts on Reality Shows... Apples and Oranges... Why are the criminals, called bipolar, when they are White? Unfit, is more like it...

[Superocean]

He is a totally classic example of bipolar disorder.

[oneperson1]

That's exactly what I said observing his behavior. Classic example of bipolar disorder and his family appears emotionally (if not physically) abused.

[anchoragemichael]

To Bradkt1, if Heene is ordered to pay restitution for the costs of the search as a result of his pending criminal case, he CANNOT have those costs dismissed in bankruptcy. Once that judgment is imposed, the authorities will vigorously and tirelessly go after his assets and future income. If the man ends up making minimum wage at McDonald's, he'll still probably lose half of his pay, not to mention liens on his home and other property.

[plewis1956]

Why the heck are we even discussing this loser?

[greco99-2009]

Prior to the Iraq war some people sent false information to the news media.

These materials included crude forgeries about Iraq buying Yellowcake, false info about aluminum tubes for nuclear centerfuges, and unsubstantiated rumors of mobile biolabs presented as fact.

The people who committed these apparent hoaxes on the press and the American people have not ever been called to task.

Why no investigation into who forged the yellowcake memos?

I would like to see the same standard applied to the Iraq war 'hoaxers'.

[djseavy]

The Heene family, if guilty of staging this whole non-sensical event, isn't the only group seeking fame here. All of the sudden, anybody who even remotely knows Heene wants to go on camera and express their own opinion of Richard. I won't be a bit surprised if Richard's second grade teacher (if still living) pops up with some revelation. As for little Falcon and his stunning admission on LKL, I think he's just as capable of making up events as everyone says Richard is. When a 6 year-old kid asks "Who the hell is Wolf" it shows he has been taught no boundaries whatsoever. He has the look of a very devilish kid in his eye, and his smirk says a lot about where he's heading in life.

[thinkbigor]

Lets be honest...What boy didn't want to climb in a helium filled balloon & go sailing through the sky? I know I did. So Richard missed his chance as a child and lived it though his kids.If little Falcon would have really been in that balloon and the story ended with him landing in someone elses attic after crashing through the roof. Then we would be singing a different tune. At least he had enough sense to not let his little boy go up in that balloon. I'm not saying that what he did was right but give the guy a break. I don't think he had any idea that this thing was going to blow up(no pund intended)like it did. Thank God the little boy was safe at home. We can learn lots of lessons from this. Not to mention all the new jokes,Pinata's,Halloween custumes & games that will be created. Send the family a dollar for entertaining you and help him pay for damages. I think he learn his lesson. God bless us all and forgive us for our bad choices.

[andie52]

Richard misses a lot of chances and being a responsible husband and father was one of them. Perhaps he can divorce his wife and marry octo mom and they can do a series on trash TV. The whole family needs to be in counseling at the least. I hope he doesn?t walk away from this without it.-court mandated

[sbelknap01]

We all keep focusing on whether or not the child was in the balloon, and I think we are losing track of how horribly dangerous releasing the balloon was in-and-of itself. It's an absolute miracle that the thing came down in an empty field. Imagine what would have happened had it flopped down on a freeway - the resulting crash could have taken dozens of innocent lives. What if it had blown across a softball field and swooped through the crowded bleachers? Or slammed down into a public pool trapping the swimmers underneath? This wasn't a 'bad choice' - this was blatant disregard for the safety of others.

[scubbasteve01]

BALLON WARS
EPISODE 2; REVENGE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

While waiting to hear what was going to happen to his apprentice Horror Heene on his starship.
Lord Limbaugh prepared to send more ballon droids into the space to search for more life forms to conquer and illegally put in experimental balloons all over the solar system.
Law enforcement all over was alerted to the evil empire's presence.

[sadmaawk]

To all of those out there that would destroy this family. When I first heard about this case, I said a small prayer. I said God, let this boy return safely to his family. I am pretty sure a lot of people were saying the same prayer. Why, when our prayer was answered do we not feel it necessary to destroy the family. I felt, even after it was determined that the boy was not in the balloon, the Lord sure works in mysterious ways. (Didn't expect that, but I don't presume to tell God how to do his job.) Daddy H may not be Ward Clever, or Ozzy Nelson, But it sure looks to me like he loves his boys, and they love him. If he was planning to launch that thing in the dark of night with lights so see what reaction he would get, it was probably a bad idea. The fact that it got away by accident, and he knew not if his boy was in it, says call everyone you can, and beg them not to just shoot it full of holes. (would have been cheaper I guess.) He meant no harm, he was just frightened, and did what even a good dad would have done. Let's just leave the boys with their parents and forgive them this faux paux. This rescue was a lot cheaper than AIG. I got my prayer answered, lets don't mess up the results. Forgiveness isn't hard.

[incog-nito]

If this guy is an attention wh*re as the media claims, the media certainly does its best to give it to him, what with the non-stop coverage for about a week now, with no end in sight.

[mollydtt]

This guy hit the jackpot. He loves fame and he is getting it many times over. He'll be rich after he writes his book and appears on Oprah.

[martin9p2]

Megalomaniacs like Heene often end up in jail, but sadly, jail or loss of money and family does not affect them.

[bradkt1]

Granted, this sounds like an extreme case, but we all know the personality type...a person who thrives on creating confusion so he can be the center of attention. The worst thing that can happen to a person like this is to stop running news stories about him. He played the news media and now he has gotten what he wanted...and, in his warped mind, this is even better than getting away with the "balloon boy" stunt. He might get a fine and a little jail time...but, so what? If they try to sock him with the costs of the search, he can always declare bankruptcy. The more bizarre the story, the more money that someone is going to pay him for it...eventually.

[rondivoo]

Think of the creeps who get their own reality shows... the crazier, the better... or so the media outlets think. There was Anna Nicole Smith... whoo! what a nutjob she was! And then the stupid octomom... now look at how everybody was outraged at what she did having all those kids.... result? reality show! Yeah, I think this heene dude doesn't care what kind of attention he gets, just so he gets it and just so he gets his very own reality show. And, sad to say, I think he will get one, and I'm guessing it will be fox (the originators of the worst kind of TV ever!) that gives it to him.

[jxknowles]

He's an actor and comedian. Nothing this guy does or says can be taken seriously.