'Balloon Boy' dad begins jail sentence

FORT COLLINS, Colo., Jan. 11 (UPI) -- "Balloon Boy" father Richard Heene turned himself in to Colorado authorities to begin a 30-day jail sentence Monday, witnesses said.

Heene arrived at the Larimer County, Colo., Detention Center in Fort Collins in a white minivan with his wife and children inside and sprinted inside the jail without talking to reporters, The (Fort Collins) Coloradoan said.

Heene entered a guilty plea in November on a felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant after staging what prosecutors said was an elaborate hoax which Heene claimed his son was trapped in a runaway silver helium balloon that resembled a flying saucer.

The real purpose, authorities say, was to generate publicity for his family in a bid to star in a reality television show.

Larimer County Jail Lt. Pat McCosh told The Coloradoan that Heene would get no special treatment in jail, but allowed that his fame may prompt guards to keep a closer watch on him.

"We don't know how the interaction between he and the other inmates will play out," McCosh told the newspaper. "We will certainly intervene if necessary."