Balloon Boy an Elaborate Prank? Police to Reinterview

By Shane Craver on October 16, 2009

The online publication, Business Insider, is running a tip they received from a student who has worked with Richard Heene, the father of the always grounded, Falcon Heene.

Falcon caused a stir across the nation when it was thought that he had stowed-away on a homemade, UFO-shaped balloon that had been set adrift over Colorado.

The student stated in his tip:

When Mr. Heene is denying having any involvement with this being for a show -- when the little kid, Falcon, says 'Dad, you said to go hide in the attic, we're doing this for the show' -- and then he's adamantly denying that, that's when I started cracking up because I have proof that that's not true.

The student is offering to sell the proof, which supposedly relates to a television show Heene was developing with a theme of “scientific experiments and controversial pranks.”

Heene and his family previously appeared on the odd reality show, “Wife Swap.”

The allegation jives with a curious quote by 6-year-old Falcon who stated on CNN, “You had said we did this for a show.”

The nine words were enough for Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden to declare "Clearly that has raised everyone's level of skepticism; we feel it's incumbent to reinterview them and establish if this is a hoax,"

With money on the line for the proof, expect the student’s claims to be coming your local grocery store’s checkout isle in a few days.