ABCApparently the police were not amused by Balloon Boy or his high-flying hijinks.
Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden says his office will file unspecified criminal charges in the case as early as Sunday.
The pronouncement came after his investigators spent the day questioning parents Richard and Mayumi Heene about the incident that went down Thursday.
The Heenes are not under arrest but deputies were seeking a search warrant for their home. More information is expected to be announced in a news conference Sunday.
Alderden has previously said that, if he discovered they were fibbing, he could only charge the Heenes with a misdemeanor for falsifying a police report. But because federal resources were used in the search-and-rescue mission, Alderden says he will confab with U.S. prosecutors to see if more serious counts could be tacked on.
Richard has repeatedy tried to dash claims that his flying saucer liftoff was for publicity after 6-year-old son Falcon's slipup of "you guys said that we did this for a show" during a CNN interview sparked a firestorm of controversy and prompted Alderden to interrogate the family again.
If the whole Balloon Boy escapade was "for a show," it wouldn't be the first time the Heenes tried to cash in on the reality-family mania.
And we're not talking Wife Swap.
The balloon-flying Heenes shopped around a reality show centered around their family to several networks just months ago, including TLC. No network expressed any interest, however.
Perhaps the Heenes should have tried pitching to SuperNanny…or Cops.
(Originally published Oct. 17, 2009, at 6:24 p.m. PT)
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