FORT COLLINS, COLO. ? The story that a little boy had floated away in a giant helium balloon was a hoax concocted to land a reality television show, authorities said Sunday, and the boy’s parents will likely face felony charges.

The stunt two weeks in the planning was a marketing ploy by Richard and Mayumi Heene, who met in acting school in Hollywood and have appeared on the ABC reality show “Wife Swap,” Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said. The Heenes have reportedly been working on a reality TV deal in Los Angeles.

Investigators are examining the possibility of other conspirators, “including the possibility that even some of the media outlets may have had some knowledge about this,” Alderden said.

Documents show that a media outlet has agreed to pay money to the Heenes with regard to the balloon incident, Alderden said. He didn’t name the media outlet, but said it was a show that blurs “the line between entertainment and news.” It wasn’t clear whether the deal was signed before or after the alleged hoax, or whether that media outlet was a possible conspirator.

Alderden did not name an outlet or provide any details.

“Let’s call it (my statement) short of speculation that a media outlet was in on the hoax, but let’s not discount the possibility,” he said.

Six-year-old Falcon Heene may not have even been hiding in the rafters of the family’s garage during the intense five-hour search for him Thursday, Alderden said.

“For all we know he may have been two blocks down the road playing on the swing in the city park,” the sheriff said.

Alderden also said investigators want to talk to Robert Thomas, a Denver man who claimed Heene had told him he was planning a media stunt to promote a proposed reality show. Thomas, a self-described researcher, sold his story to the Web site Gawker.com, which billed it with the headline: “Exclusive: I Helped Richard Heene Plan a Balloon Hoax.”

Web site editor-in-chief Gabriel Snyder confirmed that the site paid Thomas for his story but declined to say how much it paid him. In an e-mail Sunday to The Associated Press, Snyder said editors there had not contacted the Heene family or offered them money for their story, referring to Alderden’s reference to a deal being struck by a media outlet.

“No, that wasn’t us,” Snyder said.

Snyder said Thomas, 25, was planning to meet with investigators Sunday night, though sheriff’s officials didn’t return messages seeking confirmation.

Messages left for Thomas by the AP were also not returned.

In a statement, Gawker.com described how Thomas told them the hoax was part of Heene’s plan to shop a proposed reality series billed as “Mythbusters-meets-mad scientist.” Thomas told the site that the plan called for releasing a flying-saucer shaped balloon to garner attention for the Heene family, the proposed show and UFOs.

Thomas said in his Gawker.com story that the plan he knew about did not involve the Heenes’ children.

Thursday’s stunt temporarily shut down Denver International Airport and caused the National Guard to scramble two helicopters in an attempt to rescue the boy, who was believed to be inside the flying-saucer shaped homemade balloon that hurtled more than 50 miles across two counties.