A woman has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after faking her own kidnapping to police. Sherri Papini, 39, made false statements to the FBI claiming she was snatched by two Hispanic woman while out jogging in California.
After failing to pick up her children from nursery, she was reported missing by her husband in November 2016. Three weeks later, Sherri was found 'beaten up' by the side of the road, the BBC reports.
When questioned by police, she made up an extraordinary story of her abduction, insisting that she had been abducted at gunpoint. However, in March this year, the FBI determined that Sherri's claims were entirely fabricated - and that she had actually been staying at an ex-boyfriend's house, according to Wales Online.
They suggested she had got herself injured while there. And in a US District Court in Sacramento on Monday (September 19), Papini admitted to making it all up and apologised for doing so.
“I am so sorry to the many people who have suffered because of me – the people who sacrificed for the broken woman I was, the people who gave willingly to help me in a time that I so desperately needed help,” she said. “I am choosing to humbly accept all responsibility.”
In a criminal complaint, the FBI said Papini had been staying at a former boyfriend’s home and had been communicating with him using prepaid “burner phones” as early as December 2015. Her lawyer, William Portanova, has previously said she suffered from mental health issues.
She faced 25 years in prison, but in a deal with prosecutors, she pleaded guilty to one count each of lying to a federal officer and mail fraud. She was then sentenced to 18 months inside, but will also spend three years under supervised custody upon her release – she also agreed to pay $300,000 (£231,000), part of which will cover the costs of the police investigation.
In a sentencing memo, her lawyer blamed the hoax on her “painful early years [that] twisted and froze her in myriad ways”. He also referenced her “chameleonic personalities”, which he said pathologically “drove her to simultaneously crave family security and the freedom of youth”.
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