Sherri Papini

Sherri Papini, the Redding woman who pleaded guilty to faking her own kidnapping in 2016,...

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Sherri Papini, the California woman who pleaded guilty to faking her own kidnapping and lying about it to the FBI, was sentenced Monday to 18 months in ...

[Papini had told police that two Hispanic women had abducted her](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-mom-held-weeks-recounts-ordeal-cops-n690341). Papini had fled to the former boyfriend in Southern California, nearly 600 miles south of her home. [Papini, a mother of two from Redding, was arrested](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sherri-papinis-theatrics-are-got-caught-detectives-say-rcna25432) more than five years after she was reported missing in November 2016. 8 and to pay $309,902 in restitution for losses incurred by the California Victim Compensation Board, the Social Security Administration, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They also recommended three years of supervised release after she serves her time in prison. “A lesser sentence, such as the one month of imprisonment recommended by probation or home detention in lieu of incarceration, is not sufficient to achieve the purposes of sentencing,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed Sept.

Under sentencing guidelines, Papini could have received up to five years in prison for making false statements and a 20-year sentence for mail fraud.

The plea agreement Papini reached with the government in April included restitution totaling $309,686.33. About two dozen supporters had attended the courtroom during the sentencing, with two sitting on either side of her, holding Papini's hands, before she stood next to her attorney and addressed the judge. Attorneys for the U.S. In his sentencing recommendation filed last week, Papini's defense attorney, William Portanova, had urged the court to follow recommendations from the U.S. She later admitted to being voluntarily in Costa Mesa, California, with an ex-boyfriend the entire time. and I trust in you," she said to the judge. Papini in the future?" Portonova wrote that Papini's "name is now synonymous with this awful hoax. The judge said he choose the longer sentence to deter others. "We have to make sure that crime does not pay" and deter potential copycats looking for sympathy or money, Shubb said. I thank you all," she said. I trust in this court ...

The California woman was arrested earlier this year for staging a hoax kidnapping that prompted a three-week search across multiple states.

That was projected to be between eight and 14 months in custody, down from the maximum 25 years for the two charges. With his client's hoax revealed, he said, "It is hard to imagine a more brutal public revelation of a person's broken inner self. All of the injuries were apparently self-inflicted, and all designed to support Papini's story that claimed she had been abducted at gunpoint by two Hispanic women while she was out for a run. Prosecutors said Papini's ruse harmed more than just herself and her family. Papini collected nearly $130,000 in disability payments since the kidnapping hoax and has received psychiatric care for anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder totaling at least $30,000 in value. [faking her own kidnapping](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sherri-papini-arrested-faked-2016-kidnapping-defrauded-california/) so she could go back to a former boyfriend, which led to a three-week, multi-state search before she resurfaced on Thanksgiving Day in 2016.

A Northern California woman who pleaded guilty to orchestrating an elaborate kidnapping hoax that she was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison.

Papini's kidnapping hoax was deliberate, well-planned and sophisticated," prosecutors said in court filings, adding that prior to staging the abduction she communicated with her ex-boyfriend using prepaid cellphones. "The events of the past two months have been shocking and devastating," Keith Papini said in a statement released after the sentencing hearing. It deeply pains me to say this, but my sister is very disturbed, and I hope, for her children’s sake, once she is released, she will finally get the treatment she clearly so desperately needs." In exchange for her plea, prosecutors agreed to a sentence at the lower end of federal sentencing guidelines. Sherri Papini's sister, Shelia Koester, posted a lengthy statement on Facebook, apologizing to the Redding community for her sibling's deceit. A massive search was launched for her and family members -- including 2, 2016, while out for a jog in her Redding neighborhood. I am choosing to commit to healing the parts of myself that were so very broken." "I am guilty of lying. I am guilty of dishonor. I am not choosing to stay frozen like I was in 2016. District Court in Sacramento.

Sherri Papini invented a wild kidnapping hoax. The true story is even stranger. Sherri Papini leaves the federal courthouse in Sacramento as media tries to talk ...

She continued to deny that her ex-boyfriend was involved and said she had not spoken to him in years. But she continued to claim she was abducted, according to the criminal affidavit. Papini was confronted by investigators during an interview in August 2020 and reminded that it was a crime to lie to federal officers. In reality, she had asked the ex-boyfriend to brand her, according to court documents. The sample was uploaded to a national DNA repository operated by the FBI and periodically checked for matches. “Ex-boyfriend explained that Papini created the injuries while staying with him, including hitting herself to create bruises and burning herself on her arms,” according to a federal investigator’s criminal affidavit. Before she got in to his car, she placed her phone and earbuds on the ground with strands of her hair tangled in the cords, according to investigators. When police arrived, they found Papini with a chain around her waist, one of her arms bound and other bindings around her wrist and ankles, according to court documents. Papini said one of the women had “stuck” her with something and that she kept falling asleep during the drive, so she couldn’t recall where they went. In reality, prosecutors said, Papini had slipped into her ex-boyfriend’s Dodge and took a nap in the backseat as he drove them to his apartment in Costa Mesa. Only referred to as the “ex-boyfriend” in court documents, Papini’s childhood friend and former fiance talked to her in the months leading up to her disappearance. She claimed that she was in an abusive relationship and that local police were not helping her, according to a criminal affidavit.

Papini went missing in 2016 and returned three weeks later saying she had been kidnapped and tortured. She has admitted to faking the kidnapping.

The plea agreement Papini reached with the government in April included restitution totaling $309,686.33. Attorneys for the U.S. In his sentencing recommendation filed last week, Papini's defense attorney, William Portanova, had urged the court to follow recommendations from the U.S. She later admitted being voluntarily in Costa Mesa, California, with an ex-boyfriend the entire time. Portonova wrote that Papini's "name is now synonymous with this awful hoax. government said Papini should receive an eight-month prison sentence, followed by three years of supervised release, no fine and a mandatory special assessment of $200 "to promote respect for the law." I thank you all," she said. At this point, the punishment is already intense and feels like a life sentence." "I stand before you humbled by the court. The lesser sentence would address Papini's crimes, provide a "reasonable deterrent" and deliver justice "in this unique case," Portanova wrote. Under maximum sentencing guidelines, Papini could have received up to five years in prison for making false statements to the FBI, and a 20-year sentence for mail fraud. Papini, 40, also was ordered to pay $309,902 in restitution for losses incurred by the California Victim Compensation Board, the Social Security Administration, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Sherri Papini's disappearance in 2016 prompted an extensive and costly three-week search. She admitted this year that she had made it all up to collect ...

She said that the women had beaten her and that she was branded after she tried to escape. Papini told the authorities that she had been abducted by two Hispanic women who had tied her to a pole inside a closet and given her a bucket of cat litter to use as a toilet. She had “various bindings on her body” and injuries that included a “brand” on her right shoulder, according to prosecutors. Papini about her abduction claim, warning her that it was unlawful to lie to federal agents. attorney and by the court, and she knows she has to pay her price,” Mr. In August 2020, the authorities questioned Ms. Judge Shubb said during the hearing that Ms. agents about her disappearance and one count of mail fraud. As part of the sentence, Judge William B. Papini along an interstate in Yolo County, more than 140 miles south of where she had disappeared, the U.S. Shubb of U.S. Portanova said, adding, “Sometimes it takes a crash to change your life.”

A California woman who faked her own high-profile kidnapping has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for making false statements to the FBI.

The FBI concluded this March that the whole affair was staged. She will also spend three years under supervised custody after her release from jail. In the sentencing memo, he referenced her "chameleonic personalities", which he said pathologically "drove her to simultaneously crave family security and the freedom of youth".

For more than five years, Sherri Papini insisted that, in November 2016, she was abducted by two masked women who held her captive for 22 days, starved her ...

At the time, her lawyer, Portanova, said he did not know why Papini did it, though in a recent court filing he wrote that she left her family “in pursuit of a non-sensical fantasy.” The ex-boyfriend told investigators that he helped Papini “run away” after she told him she was being abused by her husband, according to the complaint. Shortly after Papini was charged, her husband petitioned for divorce and sought custody of their children, She had been missing for 22 days, and Papini told investigators that two Hispanic women had abducted her Nov. For the next five years, Papini stood by her statements. He said he picked her up and drove her to his home, where Papini ate very little and had him help to brand her right shoulder with a wood-burning tool. Shubb sentenced Papini to 18 months in prison after she pleaded guilty to mail fraud and making false statements, according to the Justice Department. They had discovered that the DNA on the clothes she was wearing when she was found matched that of the ex-boyfriend. William Portanova, one of Papini’s lawyers, said his client was “treated very fairly by the U.S. Shubb called Papini a “manipulator,” the Bee reported, and said the eight-month sentence recommended by prosecutors would not suffice. Papini’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post late Monday. Her motive for concocting the story remains unclear.