'Balloon Boy' dad gets 90 days in jail

FORT COLLINS, Colo., Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Richard Heene, the Colorado father who admitted falsely claiming his son was adrift in a balloon, must serve 90 days in jail, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Larimer County Judge Stephen Schapanski ordered Heene be locked up for 30 days and serve the remaining 60 days under work release conditions, The Denver Post reported.

Heene's wife Mayumi, who had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in the Oct. 15 incident, drew a sentence of four years probation, USA Today reported.

"I do want to reiterate that I'm very, very sorry," Richard Heene told Schapanski at the hearing while choking back tears.

The couple admitted they lied when they told authorities their 6-year-old son Falcon was aboard a homemade helium balloon that had escaped from their back yard in an "experiment gone wrong," and that they were actually seeking to gain publicity to aid the family's career as "reality television" stars.

"You know, what happened here has spun so wildly out of control that nobody had any inkling that this would be the worldwide event that it turned into," Heene lawyer David Lane told reporters.

Richard Heene pleaded guilty to attempting to influence a public servant, a felony with a potential sentence of six months to two years. His wife pleaded guilty to false reporting and faces up to six months.