VIDEO: Balloon Family's Landlord Worried Rent Money Might Float Away
Oct. 21 2009, Published 2:58 p.m. ET
Mike Bechtold, the landlord of the Richard Heene family, said Wednesday he might have to evict the new celebrities if their anticipated legal woes prevent them from paying the rent.
Bechtold, who considers the Heenes "more than tenants" and "friends," said he's in a "really tough" position after the family was thrust under the spotlight of media -- and law enforcement -- after last week's bizarre turn of events involving the nationally televised pursuit of a spaceship shaped balloon wrongly thought to be containing the family’s 6-year-old boy, Falcon.
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Bechtold declined to answer whether or not he has had problems with the family as tenants, and said he had no knowledge of any balloon or science-related experiments taking place on the property.
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A worldwide audience watched Oct. 15, as the homemade helium balloon soared 7,000 feet over eastern Colorado for just under two hours; it was revealed during the dramatic incident that the boy's family had gained fame on the ABC reality show Wife Swap. Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden Sunday told reporters he will likely recommend felony charges against Heene and his wife, Mayumi in connection with the incident.