Lawyer: Balloon Boy Parents To Plead Guilty

First Published: November 12, 2009 11:53 AM EST Credit: ABC

Caption The Heene family — Richard, Mayumi, Ryan, Falcon and Bradford — appear in a photo from ‘Wife Swap’

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- The attorney for the Colorado father who reported his son floated away in a helium balloon says his client and the boy’s mother will both plead guilty to charges in the case.

Lawyer David Lane said in a statement Thursday that Mayumi Heene will plead guilty to false reporting to authorities, a misdemeanor. He said her husband, Richard Heene, will plead guilty to attempting to influence a public servant, a felony.

Lane says prosecutors have agreed to allow both to serve probation sentences.

The most serious of the charges recommended by Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden would have carried a maximum sentence of six years in prison.

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