Now we know exactly how bad things are for Team Balloon.
Early Sunday morning, Larimer County sheriff's deputies, crime scene investigators and child-services officials raided the home of Richard and Mayumi Heene in Fort Collins, Colo., E! News has learned.
The Heenes were awakened by a convoy of cars and vans that arrived around 1 a.m. for the surprise visit.
Investigators, armed with a search warrant, removed "several boxes and computers" from the home during the raid, which lasted several hours, according to a source close to the case.
The Heene family was escorted from the home while authorities were present.
"It looked like an FBI-style raid," the source said, even though the case was conducted by local authorities and the Justice Department has confirmed the feds did not tag along for the fun.
Sheriff James Alderden said his department is looking to build a felony case against the parents, attempting to prove that the family concocted the runaway balloon scheme to drum up publicity for a stalled reality-TV show pitch. No charges have been filed yet, however. And now the family is about to launch a counteroffensive.
Following the raid, the entire Heene clan stayed at a hotel in the Fort Collins area but returned to their home in the southeast part of the city shortly before 6 p.m., the source said.
With local media trucks camped outside of the family's home, the Heenes stayed inside. Richard Heene, who previously had insisted he wasn't some hoaxster extraordinaire, is now under orders from his new attorney, Denver-based lawyer David Lane, to stay mum.
"This is a nightmare for the family," Lane told the local NBC affiliate early Sunday. He is planning to make the national morning-show rounds on Monday to defend the beseiged brood.
It seems this "nightmare" was also a poorly kept secret.
A Fort Collins resident told E! News that their child, a classmate of 10-year-old Bradford Heene, claimed to have known about the planned saucer-launching stunt last week. The source believed this may have led some locals to anonymously contact law enforcement after the drama played out on live television.
Sounds like this balloon had a leak before it even lifted off.
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