Welp, we told him to come clean before it was too late. Now it’s too late, the website Gawker.com has paid 25-year old researcher Robert Thomas an unspecified amount – estimated to be $5-8K – for his story on how he helped Richard Heene plan this elaborate stunt in hopes of getting his reality show. Here’s a piece of what he sold them:
One night, when Richard and I were sitting and talking, he brought up Wife Swap, and specifically a confrontation he had with a woman on the show who claimed to be a psychic. They very much disliked one other. Richard said, “Well, think about it. We were the 100th episode of Wife Swap. And why are we the most recognized Wife Swap family and episode? It’s because of the controversy. I don’t care what people say about me as a person, but the fact of the matter is that they know who I am.”
And then we delved into the area of UFOs. I was reading a book on witness reports of Roswell at the time, just out of curiousity — I’ve never concluded whether it really took place or was an elaborate hoax. And Richard said, “how much do you want to bet we could facilitate some sort of a media stunt that would be equally profound as Roswell, and we could do so with nothing more than a weather balloon and some controversy?”
When my friends called me about the whole balloon episode I was working. I had just moved to a new place and didn’t have my television set up. I probably would never even have heard about this, except that a good friend of mine remembered me telling him about Richard several months ago. He told me, “Rob, you need to turn on the tv immediately! That Richard guy you worked with just pulled a massive publicity stunt!”
Richard’s story doesn’t add up. He is saying he thought Falcon was in the balloon, and that Falcon ran and hid as a result of Richard yelling at him. I’ve spent a lot of time with them, and Falcon is, first of all, not afraid of his father. I’ve never once seen Richard’s children afraid of him — and I’ve definitely never seen Falcon go hide. He was one of the most social of the three children.
The family could be charged with conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, making a false report to authorities if they are charged which carries a maximum prison time of 6 years. We’re not sure they should go to JAIL for this, but it will be interesting to watch them try to pick up the tab for the search efforts – the two military helicopters used alone cost $14,500!!!
Things that happen when your co defendant is six….
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