Heenes plead guilty to creating a hoax

The parents of "balloon boy" Falcon Heene pleaded guilty to staging the story that their son had floated away in a balloon that father Richard Heene created for a science project. After a frantic hunt for the boy, it turned out he had been hiding in his house the whole time.

According to the Associated Press, Richard Heene and his wife Mayumi appeared in a Larimer County District Court to plead guilty to making up the whole story. Richard Heene pleaded guilty to a felony count of falsely influencing the public servant and Mayumi pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of knowingly filing a false report with emergency services. Reuters reports that the Heenes decided to plead guilty after Mayumi, a Japanese citizen, was threatened with deportation.

Richard Heene could face up to 90 days in jail, a fine, and probation, and Mayumi could get 60 days in jail along with a work-release program and probation. The Heene's could also be ordered to pay restitution for the thousands of dollars that were spent during the search for Falcon. The couple will be sentenced on December 23.