'Balloon Boy' Parents Plead Guilty

A Colorado couple pleaded guilty Friday to charges related to a massive hoax that had authorities scrambling to find a boy believed to have been carried away in a helium balloon. Richard Heene pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden. His wife, Mayumi Heene, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of filing a false report.

Last month, the couple called Federal Aviation Administration officials, a Fort Collins, Colo., television station, and law enforcement officers to report that their 6-year-old son was inside a helium balloon that had become untethered from the family's house and floated away.

Prosecutors want the Heenes to serve some time in jail, but the final decision will be made by Schapanski at a Dec. 23 sentencing hearing. Most of the country would support jail time and it would send the right message for this kind of crime. This cannot go unpunished in a very appropriate way.