Balloon Hoax parents to Plead Guilty...

[kyounge1956]

...so Mom doesn't get deported.

EarthLink - Top News

Dad will plead to a felony, Mom to a misdemeanor.

What on earth were they thinking of?

 

[ziggy29]

Let's hope the fine pays for all of the search and rescue costs, at minimum.

 

[TromboneAl]

Let's hope the fine pays for all of the search and rescue costs, at minimum.

Right. I sometimes hear police say that it's too expensive to enforce some laws (driving with cell phone, for example). It would make sense if the fines were adjusted to pay for the enforcement.

 

[kyounge1956]

Let's hope the fine pays for all of the search and rescue costs, at minimum.

The article says Dad could be fined up to half a million dollars. Does that even come close?

 

[harley]

I partiicularly like this part.

That price tag covers the cost of sheriff's deputies in two counties and military helicopters, but it's not clear whether there were any other agencies that also spent money on the effort.

Lane said he would fight any effort to recoup those costs.

"A bunch of cops chasing a balloon instead of sitting around is not a restitution case," he said, adding that authorities have not shown that the pursuit forced them to pay overtime.

Make them work off those doughnuts.

 

[kyounge1956]

I partiicularly like this part.

That price tag covers the cost of sheriff's deputies in two counties and military helicopters, but it's not clear whether there were any other agencies that also spent money on the effort.

Lane said he would fight any effort to recoup those costs.

"A bunch of cops chasing a balloon instead of sitting around is not a restitution case," he said, adding that authorities have not shown that the pursuit forced them to pay overtime.

Lane is just trying to get his client out of reimbursing the taxpayers of Fort Collins & vicinity for all the money he wasted with this hoax. A bunch of cops chasing a balloon is a bunch of cops that aren't chasing bad guys. Oh, and I was mistaken up above...half a million is the maximum fine without the plea bargain. I don't know what it would be with...but he should at least have to pay for the costs resulting from his scam. Hopefully that (with the additional hit of Mr Lane's fees) will be enough so the next time he comes up with some hare-brained scheme for a "reality" show, that involves inciting his kids to lie and puts his wife at risk of deportation, he'll think better of it.