00:40 Sherri Papini is given an 18-month prison sentence.
A mother of two from Northern California was sentenced to 18 months in jail on Monday for faking her own kidnapping in order to return to an ex-boyfriend, prompting a three-week, multi-state search before she resurfaced on Thanksgiving Day in 2016.
Sherri Papini, 40, pleaded guilty earlier this year to two counts of mail fraud and making false statements to federal agents about the fictitious kidnapping, in a deal that reduced her maximum possible sentence from 25 years and included more than $300,000 in restitution payments, the Department of Justice announced Monday.
Monday’s sentence hearing occurred more than five years after Papini’s widely publicized abduction spurred a multi-state, three-week hunt prior to the 2016 Thanksgiving holiday, and roughly six months after her arrest in March.
Previously, Papini’s defense attorney and probation officials argued for a one-month sentence and seven months of supervised home detention, although prosecutors advocated for a full prison term.
Senior U.S. District Judge William Shubb stated that he chose an 18-month sentence to deter others.
The judge stated that he also considered “the vast number of individuals affected.”
When asked if she understood the sentence, Papini, who had been distraught during the trial, responded quietly, “Yes, sir.”
According to the Department of Justice, the money Papini owes covers material losses to the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation — as both law enforcement agencies were involved in searching for Papini when she allegedly vanished — as well as the California Victim Compensation Board and Social Security Administration. Since the kidnapping hoax, Papini has earned about $130,000 in disability payments and at least $30,000 worth of psychiatric care for anxiety, sadness, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Prosecutors noted in their court filing, “Papini’s kidnapping hoax was intentional, well-planned, and sophisticated.” Months after pleading guilty to fabricating the kidnapping and lying to the FBI about it, she was still fraudulently telling others she was kidnapped, according to authorities.
In a rebuttal court document, defense counsel William Portanova characterized Papini as “outwardly kind and compassionate, but capable of extreme dishonesty.”
On April 13, 2022, Sherri Papini is brought by her attorney, William Portanova, to the federal courts in Sacramento, California. Rich Pedroncelli / AP
“Ms. Papini’s chameleon-like personas caused her to simultaneously desire family stability and the independence of adolescence,” stated Portonova.
According to Portanova, the married mother fled to a former partner in Southern California, almost 600 miles south of her home in Redding, “in pursuit of a nonsensical ideal.” Following her request to return home, he dropped her off along Interstate 5 around 150 miles away from her residence.
Passersby discovered her bound, with a swollen nose, a hazy “brand” on her right shoulder, bruises and rashes all over her body, ligature marks on her wrists and ankles, and burns on her left forearm. All of the injuries were evidently self-inflicted and designed to bolster Papini’s account that she was kidnapped by two Hispanic ladies while out running.
Portanova said that the scars were a manifestation of her “unsettled masochism” and “self-inflicted penance.” Once she started, “each falsehood demanded another lie”
According to prosecutors, Papini’s deception impacted more than herself and her family. They added, “An entire neighborhood believed the fraud and lived in fear that Hispanic women roamed the streets abducting and selling women.”
In exchange for Papini’s guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to seek a sentence on the lower end of the applicable sentencing range. This was estimated to be between eight and fourteen months, as opposed to the maximum of 25 years for the two charges.
She has provided no explanation for her acts, which has perplexed even independent mental health professionals, who have stated that her behavior does not fit any normal description.
In advocating for home confinement, Portanova stated, “Papini’s terrible childhood twisted and froze her in various ways.” With the exposure of his client’s fraud, he stated, “It is difficult to imagine a more terrible public revelation of a person’s wounded inner self. The punishment is already severe and feels like a life sentence.”
Prosecutors, however, stated that “previous trauma and mental health difficulties cannot explain all of her behavior.”
“Papini’s planning of her fake kidnapping was detailed and began months in advance; it was not just the result of a terrible upbringing,” they stated.