Balloon boy saga a hoax, police say

Therunaway balloon incident in Colorado last week was a publicity stunt, police in thestate's Larimer Countytold reportersSaturday.

Police saidthe parents of a six-year-old boy at the centre of the investigationstarted the media frenzy abouttheir son being trapped in a free-floatinghelium balloonto get national attention.

"It has been determined that this was a hoax," Sheriff Jim Alderden said at a news conference inFort Collins, Colo. "We have evidence to indicate that itwasa public stunt done with the hopes ofbetter marketing themselves for a reality television show sometime in the future."

Richardand Mayumi Heene had told authorities they were certain that Falcon, the youngest of their three children,had crawled insidethe helium balloon built in their yard as a science experiment before itfloated away on Thursday.

Television camerasfollowed the balloon for 80 kilometresbefore it landed;a searchthen showed no one inside.A few hours later,Falcon was found safe at home, hiding in the rafters of his family's garage.

Alderden said police decided to interview the parents separately and search their home after watching the family being interviewed by CNN's Wolf Blitzer on the Larry King Live show Thursday night. During questioning, Falcon is heard tellinghis father that he didn't come out of the attic when called because they were "doing this for the show."

"That's when we had our first'aha' moment," the sheriff said. "Needless to say, they put on a very good show for us, and we bought it."

The Heenefamily has been featured twiceon the ABC television reality show Wife Swap the last time in March fuelling speculationthey may have been seeking more publicity.

Alderden said "at some point" his department will be recommending that the local district attorney's officechargethe parents with the following offences: conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, false reporting to authorities and attempting to influence a public servant.

Richard Heene said he's "seeking counsel," though it was unclear whether he was talking about hiring a lawyer.

"This thing has become so convoluted," Heene told The Associated Press as tears welled up in his eyes.

He said his wife was holding together better than he was.