SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California mother of two was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for faking her own kidnapping 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.
Sherri Papini, 40, pleaded guilty last spring under a plea bargain that also required her to pay more than $300,000 in restitution.
Probation officers and Papini’s attorney had recommended a month in custody and seven months of supervised home detention. But Senior U.S. District Judge William Shubb said he opted for an 18-month sentence in order to deter others.
The judge said he also considered “the sheer number of people who were impacted.”
Papini was found with bindings on her body, a swollen nose, and bruises and rashes across her body. All of the injuries were self-inflicted and were designed to support her story that she had been abducted at gunpoint by two Hispanic women while she was out for a run, prosecutors said.
Papini, who was emotional throughout the proceedings, quietly answered, “Yes, sir,” when the judge asked if she understood the sentence.
