Richard Heene

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden, a brassy Western sheriff straight from the pages of a Cormac McCarthy novel, was under scrutiny for blabbing to reporters that social service workers were checking out balloon boy and his siblings' living conditions. This was a few days after Richard Heene, the father, allegedly rigged a giant silver weather balloon to look like a flying saucer, released it into the sky and then called the police and the FAA in a panic that his 6-year-old son Falcon was aboard. Falcon, it turned out, was at home and later gave away what Alderden described as a hoax when he said the entire fiasco was "for the show."

The Heene family lawyer, David Lane, accused Alderden of breaking the law by disclosing the involvement of child protection workers. The local DA handed the investigation to one in another jurisdiction to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, and the special prosecutor announced yesterday that no laws were broken.

At least not by the sheriff.

"Although Sheriff Alderden references the fact that the Department of Social Services has become involved, he discloses no data or information obtained from a Department of Social Services report, nor does he improperly release any identifying information obtained from records or reports of child abuse," special prosecutor and Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett said in a written statement. "Thus, no criminal charges are warranted."

The Heenes will probably not be so lucky. Lane told the Fort Collins Coloradoan that it was just a matter of time before the family is charged in what the sheriff has maintained was a grand and deliberate hoax designed to get the family publicity.

To that end, the balloon stunt worked perfectly, although it's probably not the sort of publicity the Heenes had in mind. So far, there's no word of a reality show resulting from the incident.

| More...