‘Balloon-boy’ investigation looks at link to reality TV

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Investigators pored over e-mails, phone records and financial documents from the home of Richard Heene on Monday as they weighed felony charges and sought to determine who else might have helped the alleged balloon-boy hoax get off the ground.

The sheriff’s office said its findings will be forwarded to prosecutors next week to decide if Richard and Mayumi Heene should be charged with falsely reporting that their 6-year-old son had drifted away in a large home-built helium balloon to drum up publicity for a reality-TV show.

But the investigation could reach beyond the Heenes, possibly into the world of reality-show promotions.

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said documents show that a media outlet had agreed to pay the Heenes. Alderden did not name the organization but said it was in an industry that blurs “the line between entertainment and news.”

It was not clear whether the deal was signed before or after the alleged hoax, or whether the media outlet was a possible conspirator. If so, the organization could face charges as well.

The Heenes are amateur storm chasers who apparently wanted to star in a reality show that focused on a range of absurd experiments, such as attracting UFOs with a weather balloon and conducting an electromagnetic analysis of a terminally ill patient’s spirit before death.

Robert Thomas, a collaborator who worked with Richard Heene on the idea, provided an e-mail to the Web site Gawker.com outlining his plan for the show. The sheriff’s department questioned Thomas on Sunday after he revealed that Heene was planning a media stunt to promote the show, according to the researcher’s lawyer, Linda Lee.

Thomas’ notes include Heene’s discussing a hoax — which Thomas opposed — that involved a hot air balloon, Lee said.

“Pretty much he wanted to recreate this Roswell effect making it seem like there’s a UFO,” Lee said.

“Heene believes the world is going to end in 2012,” she said. “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.”

Lee said her client worked with Heene from March until May.

Thomas told investigators what he observed about the couple and “intimate details about their home life,” Lee said. “He noticed things that were definitely not right. ... Some of the things are kind of shocking that Mr. Heene did, but we’re not going to discuss specifics,” Lee said.

Lee said investigators told her Thomas does not face charges, but she is seeking immunity for him before he turns over documents and e-mails with Heene, “just to be safe.” Thomas has said he had no idea that a possible hoax would involve the Heene children.

With television cameras and reporters set up outside the Heene home, Richard Heene’s lawyer, David Lane, stressed that the Heenes are willing to turn themselves in to avoid the spectacle of a public arrest.

Lane declined to say directly whether he believes the incident was a hoax but said the Heenes are innocent unless convicted. On the Heenes’ front door Monday hung a paper sign that said, “civil liberties don’t leave home without them.” On the doorstep, some people left a box for letters of support, with an American flag on top.