Lawyers say protecting children may have led balloon boy mother to admit saga was a hoax

Balloon mom may have admitted hoax to protect kids

DENVER — Friends say the mother of the little boy at the center of the Colorado balloon case is devoted — even subservient — to her inventor husband and her kids. So why would she allegedly tell sheriff’s deputies that the whole thing was a hoax?

Legal experts say if Mayumi Heene made that confession — as alleged in a search warrant for the family’s home — it may have been to keep her children from being taken away or to spare them from having to testify.

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden says he’s recommending Richard and Mayumi Heene be prosecuted on charges of conspiracy, making a false report to authorities and attempting to influence a public servant. He’s also asked that child protective services investigate their well-being.