Husband choked back tears, strict probation, wife did not speak....a friggin' MEN.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Fuck 'em BOTH. Go to jail, do not collect, STFU. You created it. Bask in it, losers.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The parents who carried out the balloon boy hoax were sentenced to jail Wednesday and given strict probation conditions that forbid them from earning any money from the spectacle for four years.

Richard Heene was sentenced to 90 days in jail, including 60 days of work release that will let him pursue his job as a construction contractor while serving his time. His wife, Mayumi, was sentenced to 20 days in jail.

Richard Heene choked back tears as he said he was sorry, especially to the rescue workers who chased down false reports that his 6-year-old son had floated away in a balloon on Oct. 15. It was a stunt designed to generate attention for a reality TV show.

“I do want to reiterate that I’m very, very sorry. And I want to apologize to all the rescue workers out there and the people that got involved in the community. That’s it,” said Richard Heene, whose wife did not speak at the hearing.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34574260/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

[Ken Burch]

1. That kid will be sent to another family, now, won't he?

n/t.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

6. no

[pitohui]

10. no they are spared that cruelty -- there will always be a parent with the child, as there should be

no thanks to the hatefilled mentality expressed by a shocking number of so-called progressives on this site

i am honestly shocked to see so many DUers are practicing sadists

may what they wish for others come to them, i'm sure many of them have smoked a certain harmless weed, and since they believe in jail for victimless crimes let it come to them and swiftly so that they may learn compassion and mercy

it's xmas

i don't need to read all this hate in people's heart aga. people who did a HOAX -- fuck, hoax was once a performance art, a gift, an entertainment

i hope one day the person the judge loves most is put in a jail for a non violent crime that could have easily been handled another way, if i was king of the world, it would be so already

[bullwinkle428]

13. It really would have been a gift/artistic/entertaining if any

of the rescuers had been injured or killed in their efforts! :sarcasm:

[kiva]

19. A hoax that cost an estimated $43,000

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121829161

In a state that, like many others, is cutting back on education funding and social services. It may be a tiny part of the budget, but I suspect many agencies would be happy to get an extra $43,000 - oh wait, they won't because these idiots wanted to be on reality TV.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

20. Their children are the victims.

These two are terrible parents and are raising monsters. It would do the children good to be away from them for awhile. People could have been killed because of the stunt they pulled and that's why people are mad.

[Ken Burch]

22. It's not about "hate". It's about wanting to stop people from endangering a child

And yes, in this instance the kid was safe, but, if they hadn't been caught, who knows what ELSE these people might have done to increase the "marketability" of their lives? Maybe next time they actually WOULD send the boy up in a balloon.

I think we might also want to consider pressuring the FCC to ban "reality" programming or at least restrict the elements of it that actually put people in danger. At some point, people will be killed in the name of boosting the ratings.

[Berry Cool]

27. Yeah, these parents are the ones advocating hate.

They're teaching their sons to disrespect women and gays by teaching them that to be anything less than macho and violent is to be "pussified." Check out their home videos and you'll know it.

[varelse]

24. I'm sure the people whose wheat crop was destroyed appreciate the entertainment

I for one do not appreciate your spite and malice toward those of us who applaud justice.

[Berry Cool]

26. Bullshit; this was not a "victimless crime."

I am all for the Christmas spirit, but this crime cost a lot of people a lot of time, trouble, money and worry. It was NOT "victimless."

Hoaxes are not "performance art," "gift" or "entertainment" when they create problems and misery for others who don't deserve it. There's a big difference between "merry prankstering" and what these people did. A flash mob is maybe performance art or entertainment (although not necessarily a "gift"). This isn't.

Only egomaniacal, immature countercultural twits think that every possible kind of hoax a person can pull is just a cute and funny way to "put one over on The Man."

Oh, and for the record, I have never smoked a certain "harmless" weed, either. I don't care if other people do, but that argument won't work with me.

[Schema Thing]

2. There should be a special catagory of crime

that allows for the use of the stockades for public humiliation in cases of supreme ass-clownery.

[msongs]

3. it's not nice to fool ....the media lol nt

[Berry Cool]

28. They are not being punished because they "fooled the media."

They are being punished for the time, trouble and expense they caused aside from the media frenzy.

[Berry Cool]

4. Four years? They should be prohibited from earning any money for it for LIFE.

Otherwise, this just becomes another story they can sell..."Our terrible ordeal in jail...read all about it...and watch our new reality show about life ten years later..."

[Amerigo Vespucci]

17. I agree completely...

...but let's hope that after four years, the 15 minutes of fame will be in its 16th minute.

[Berry Cool]

29. I hope so too. The only good thing about jerks like this is that there's such an endless supply

that usually no one set of jerks can capitalize too highly on its own jerkiness before the next set comes along to replace them with even newer jerkiness.

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. Next time, send this pair up in their leaky tinfoil-UFO-hoaxcraft.

Enjoy your moment in the sun, you idiots.

[sabrina 1]

7. So we are a country of laws after all?

Lock those pranksters up and throw away the key. I feel a whole lot safer. Wasn't it great to get the little kid to rat on his parents, unwittingly of course, on reality tv> And the citizens cheered 'Thanks kid, now we got them'! I'm sure that child is happy to know he helped the mob put his parents in jail.

Priorites, the media got punked and the mob wanted blood. Too bad for the child! We care so much about children in this country. Well, we SAY we do.

So now that we're back to being a nation of laws, when will we start putting away war criminals and torturers?

[Berry Cool]

31. Oh, won't someone PLEASE think of the CHILDREN??????

:rofl: Someone had to say it. So now we can't punish the pranksters because all it's doing is exacting media revenge for being punked and punishing their poor dear children. :sarcasm: Cry me a river.

Oh, but yeah, I do want to put away war criminals and torturers. But I think we can still do that too. Too bad it's so much harder. :grr:

[sabrina 1]

33. No, we apparently cannot do both, unless you know something

I don't know. Last I heard we were moving on because those war crimes are in the past. Our top lawyer doesn't seem interested in prosecuting anyone who made torture a policy in this country, so explain to me why the little people should be treated any differently?

Sorry if I don't see much point in jailing a couple of stupid pranksters who managed to fool our brilliant media into spending hours of air-time on something that many people questioned from the start.

And since you mentioned the children, one in four of them is currently on food stamps in this great country of ours. I consider that a crime and would probably cheer to see those who collapsed our economy held responsible in some way. But we won't see that either, since many of them have been promoted to the highest positions in our government.

I just can't get all excited about locking up a couple of parents who did something extremely foolish. But you go ahead and celebrate and keep dreaming about the law being applied equally sometime in your lifetime.

[arcadian]

8. And a ton of DUers came down on me for calling bullshit on the story.

As it was happening real time. And calling bullshit on the media hype. People called me every fucking name in the book. All I'm gonna say is... "I told ya so."

[Myrina]

11. me too

n/t

[seabeyond]

14. i had repug, skepitical, holier than thou in laws visiting during this event.

i was able to give them right off the bat, rumor that hoax, per my board. once again, du fettered it out before anyone else had it and made me look really in the know. so all you skeptics, a thank you....

[Cass]

9. And they have to pay back $42,000 in rescue costs.

$8000 of that is for the damage to the farm field that was damaged when the ballon landed according to an article I read earlier.

Good for the judge for blocking any profit from this for 4 years.

People shouldn't be allowed to profit from stunts like this. I am hoping the White House party crashers are not able to profit from their stunt either.

[Myrina]

12. ... and they better not EVER get a reality show out of it ...

Period.

[HopeHoops]

15. Fuck both of them. Assholes.

[pipi_k]

16. Yeah, I saw him choking back his tears....

wondered if he put as much effort into that act as he did when he tried to convince everyone his kid was really missing.

[HipChick]

21. he looked like he was faking..pathetic acting

[Blasphemer]

18. The punishment seems appropriate and will send a message to others who seek fame and money

and allow that pursuit to triumph over common sense.

[Initech]

23. They should get the Dumbass Of The Decade award.

[ddeclue]

30. Nope they were one-upped by the let's crash the White House Party couple...

who will hopefully get the Federal version of this same sentence:

12 months in Danville.

bwa ha ha

[varelse]

25. Here's to the rule of law

now, if only we could make that stick to much bigger crimes (and wealthier criminals).

[Berry Cool]

32. Agreed.

There's no reason why we have to set these people free in order to punish those who do much worse.

[Libertas1776]

34. Their children should be taken away from them

and they (Mr. and Mrs A-Hole) should be set adrift in a balloon.

[MetaTrope]

35. And now the media will stop focusing on the attention whores, starting maybe with Sarah Palin?

Don't hold your breath.