Richard and Mayumi Heene, the parents of the six-year-old boy thought to have floated away in a homemade helium balloon last month, plead guilty to criminal charges of staging the incident in a publicity-seeking hoax in Larimer County District Court in Fort Collins, Colorado Friday.

Richard Heene pleaded guilty Friday to a felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant. Mayumi Heene pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of false reporting. Heene’s attorney, David Lane, says the pleas are part of an agreement to avoid possible deportation of Mayumi to her native Japan should she be convicted in court of greater charges.