VIDEO: Balloon Boy Parents Plead Guilty; Will Be Sentenced Next Month

Nov. 13 2009, Published 2:14 p.m. ET

Balloon Boy dad Richard Heene pleaded guilty in a Colorado courtroom Friday morning to a felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant, while his wife Mayumi pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor offense of false reporting to authorities, in connection with their well-publicized balloon hoax last month.

Both of their guilty pleas were accompanied by requests to travel to New York and California for work opportunities, which the judge granted.

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The couple pleaded guilty, Heene's attorney David Lane said, as part of an agreement to to avoid the potential deportation of mom Mayumi; a Japanese citizen, had Mayumi been convicted of any felony, or certain misdemeanors, she could have been deported, despite the fact her husband and children are Americans, authorities said.

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The Heenes will be sentenced on December 23; the case's prosecutor recommended probation for the parents, though they could receive jail time -- as much as 90 days for Richard, and 60 for Mayumi -- in connection with the charges, Lane said. Had they not cut a deal, the maximum penalties would have been up to six years in state prison and a fine of up to $500,000 for Richard, and a six-month jail term, a maximum $750 fine and the deportation threat for Mayumi.