FAA Investigating Balloon Boy Hoax

(CBS/AP)  The Federal Aviation Administration has opened its own investigation into the 50-mile flight of the helium balloon that briefly delayed flights at Denver International Airport after a couple reported that their 6-year-old son may have been on board, an official said Tuesday.

FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said the agency investigates civil allegations rather than criminal ones. He declined to provide details on the nature of the FAA probe or its possible outcome.

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden has said investigators believe amateur storm chasers Richard and Mayumi Heene called 911 Thursday saying they thought their son, Falcon, was aboard the large helium balloon that floated away from their yard in Fort Collins in a bid to get publicity for a reality TV show.

Click here to listen to the 911 emergency call, obtained by TMZ.com.

The balloon landed 50 miles away near Denver International Airport. Some flights had to be changed to a different runway for 20 minutes.

Falcon was found safe at home.

Alderden said he is seeking charges against the Heenes including conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, making a false report to authorities, and attempting to influence a public servant. The most serious charges are felonies and carry a maximum sentence of six years in prison.

Follow the Balloon Boy Saga at CBSNews.com:

Richard Heene "Terrifying" at Times
Ex-Associate: Heene Obsessed with Fame
Lawyer: Should Balloon Boy's Parents Lose Kids?
Lawyer: Balloon Boy Parents will Surrender
Sheriff: Balloon Boy Saga Full of Hot Air
Balloon Boy Dad: "Absolutely No Hoax"

Alderden said authorities also would be seeking restitution for the costs of the balloon chase, though he didn't provide a figure.

His office has said it will likely be sometime next week before it forwards its findings to prosecutors to decide on charges.

Richard Heene previously has denied a hoax.

He emerged briefly from the family's home Tuesday morning but didn't answer reporters' questions.

Heene did show two delivery workers where to find five leased helium tanks that were being returned to Flexx Productions, a Fort Collins rental company. The workers said four of the tanks were empty and one was partially full.

An associate of Heene's, Robert Thomas, has told sheriff's investigators that he helped record Heene's ideas for a TV show, said Thomas' attorney, Linda Lee.

"He was very interested in being famous," Thomas told CBS' "The Early Show" Tuesday.

According to Thomas' lawyer, Lee, "Heene believes the world is going to end in 2012... Because of that, he wanted to make money quickly, become rich enough to build a bunker or something underground, where he can be safe from the sun exploding."

Thomas told NBC's "Today" show on Tuesday that he had nothing to do with the hoax and didn't know about the balloon being launched until he saw it on television.

Lee said investigators told her Thomas would not face charges but that she was seeking immunity for him "just to be safe." Thomas has said he had no idea that a possible hoax could involve the Heene children.

The Heenes twice appeared on ABC's "Wife Swap," including a March episode in which they discuss their approach to parenting and talk about their belief that they're the descendants of aliens.

The producer of "Wife Swap" had a show in development with the Heenes but said the deal is now off. The TLC cable network also said Heene had pitched a reality show months ago, but it passed on the offer.

Two former associates told "The Early Show" that Heene was "terrifying" to be around at times and had created an unsafe environment for his three sons.

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."

[Skruffy1]

Get real, folks. As far as what the FAA has jurisdiction over, this was VERY small potatoes. Free-floating balloons are released into the air all the time and pose a negligible risk to aviation. The offense that it's worth going after nutball Heene for was the false report which launched an expensive "search & rescue", and charges which may be related to that. That anyone thinks the FAA has a big stick to wave about this is absurd.

[gocubs58]

Thanks to CBS and other so called "news" media, this non-story goes on and on and on.......

[stupa3]

and on and on and on....

[stn_sage]

Yes, I hope CBS is about done reporting on this non-story!?

Also, the FAA should have FAR BETTER things to do with it's time!
I wouldn't waste ONE MAN-HOUR on this! Let the 'locals' handle it...
it appears they have matters well in hand!

IF the FAA DOESN'T have better things to do, THEN something is seriously wrong with it's leadership AND mission priorities!

[DaVicar8]

I can see charging them for the cost of delaying flights, since it was the Dad who placed the 911 call.
But, does the FAA have a beef about an un-guided, unmanned, unpowered floating hunk of mylar? That hardly qualifies as an "aircraft", does it?

[docpeter1953]

Qualifies for junk UNTIL it is sucked into a jet engine. Think Sully had a problem with geese?

[rtshinn]

Boyloonzled - To be fooled or bamboozled by a media stunt. From when a boy was supposedly trapped in a flying saucer shaped balloon at 8000 ft. above sea level, only to be found safe in the attic

[rondivoo]

"boyloonzled" .... a catch word that will not "catch on." Sorry, your word is too hard to say and isn't "catchy" enough.

[rtshinn]

Yeah, I know. I can barely pronounce it myself. I still like it though.

[G-I_Jesus]

The Reality Show That Wasn't

This was no hoax, not with the slightest possibility that a child could have climbed inside. But these people where guilty of gross negligence for not locking the compartment of the balloon and the balloon itself. Oh, and for not getting their six year old son a FAA issued Pilots License.

[rondivoo]

do you understand the meaning of "hoax" ?? .... Obviously, not.

This WAS a hoax! ....The parents KNEW the kid wasn't on board... duh!

You keep saying it couldn't have been a hoax because the parents wouldn't have endangered their child's live .... they DIDN'T endanger their child! .... thus, a hoax!

You have a crimp in your brain.

[pickaguitar1]

"Alderden said he is seeking charges against the Heenes including conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, making a false report to authorities, and attempting to influence a public servant. The most serious charges are felonies and carry a maximum sentence of six years in prison."


That's just f@#$%# ridiculous!

[stupa3]

and onn and on and on

[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 this apparent hoaxes on the press and the American people that lead to the war 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'.

[pickaguitar1]

Maybe someday

[couricbuff]

charge them whatever they cost the state, then move on. don't we have better things to do?