The Bubble Bursts: Balloon Boy Dad Heads to Jail

Richard Heene will have plenty of time to study the weather now that he'll be behind bars

By Josh Grossberg Jan 11, 2010 5:03 PMTags
Richard Heene, MugshotLarimer County Sheriffs Office

Pop goes Balloon Dad.

Hoax or not, Richard Heene today surrendered to authorities to begin serving his 90-day jail sentence for duping the nation into believing his 6-year-old son was trapped in a wayward weather balloon.

"He came in at about 8:40 [local time] this morning," Eloise Campanella, spokeswoman for Colorado's Larimer County Detention Center, tells E! News.

Heene must serve 30 days in standard lockup and then can serve the balance on a work-release program, meaning he can leave the facility at night and return to wife Mayumi and their three sons—"if he follows everything that needs to be done," explains Campanella. "And he'll need to have a job."

Mayumi, who copped to a misdemeanor charge, will begin a similar sentence once her husband has finished.

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Relive the drama that was Balloongate right here.