Balloon Boy was a hoax

IT WAS ALL a hoax. One that had been in the works for weeks, too, apparently.

Busted: Dickie Stormchaser and Balloon Boy

Sheriff Jim Alderden said Sunday that Richard and Mayumi Heene – the Fort Collins, Colo. couple who days ago reported their six-year-old son Falcon had floated away in a wayward helium balloon – “put on a very good show for us, and we bought it.” (The police might have bought it, I don’t think many others did, though.)

“It has been determined that this is a hoax, that it was a publicity stunt,” the sheriff said, “and we believe we have evidence at this point to indicate that this was a publicity stunt in hopes to better market themselves for a reality show.”

Of course they did. My lord. Dickie Stormchaser and his weird wife should definitely be made to pay the entire bill for their son’s “rescue” operation. Their children should be taken from them and put in the care of people who aren’t goddamn crazy.

And forget charges. This nutjob couple should be put in a faulty hot air balloon and sent out over the Rockies in the dead of winter and left to fend for themselves. Come to think of it, that could make a great reality show…

ryan@roadtostarrdom.com

>> And now, just in time for Oct. 31: Balloon Boy, the Halloween costume