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Mac & Mike's Pick: Heene Duty

By WEEK Producer
June 21, 2011 Updated Jun 21, 2011 at 10:45 PM CDT

Remember Richard Heene? OK, how about "the balloon boy" hoax? Heene, who was the mastermind behind that event...is back in the public eye.

This time...he's got a gadget to sell.

Richard Heene is now an inventor who lives in Florida and is hoping to shed his old image and promote a new product.

Heene has invented the "HeeneDuty," a multipurpose toolbox and scaffolding device,and showed it off to reporters in Tampa.

The contraption, operated by remote control, can transform into a workbench, a seat and a dolly for construction-based use.

Heene says he's not trying to profit from the 2009 hoax involving the story that his 6-year-old son was trapped in a runaway makeshift helium balloon. The boy was in reality in his room at home.

Heene --still on probation from that incident --says he got clearance from the judge to sell his device...as long as he doesn't tie it to the balloon hoax.

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