US mother of two who faked her own abduction is jailed

A mother of two in the United States who faked her abduction has been jailed for a year and a half.

Sherri Papini from California was sentenced to 18 months in prison for making false statements to the FBI relating to a false kidnapping claim.

The 39 year old went missing in November 2016 after going jogging sparking a nationwide hunt after her husband reported her missing after she failed to collect their children from daycare.

She then reappeared three weeks later on Thanksgiving battered and bruised on the side of the road saying she had been kidnapped and held at gunpoint by two women from Latin America.

But the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stated in March earlier this year that Papini had staged a fake abduction.

The FBI revealed that she had been hiding at a former boyfriend’s home, injured herself, and had been communicating with him using prepaid burner phones for almost a year before the fake kidnapping.

Her lawyer William Portanova revealed Papini suffered from mental health issues.

Portanova made public that the mother of two had “chameleonic personalities,” which pathologically “drove her to simultaneously crave family security and the freedom of youth.”

Yesterday Papini apologised for her actions in a US District Court in Sacramento acknowledging she was guilty of lying.

She said…

“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.

“I am choosing to humbly accept all responsibility.”

Papini pleaded guilty to lying to a federal officer and mail fraud.

Papini’s lawyer blamed the hoax on her “painful early years [that] twisted and froze her in myriad ways.”

Portanova had asked for minimal prison time, telling the court the humiliation of her actions would be its own life sentence.

In exchange for Papini’s guilty plea, prosecutors sought a lighter sentence – between eight and 14 months in custody – far below the 25 year maximum she could have faced.

Papini also agreed to pay US$300,000 (11 million baht), part of which will cover the costs of the police investigation. She will also spend three years under supervised custody after her release from jail.

SOURCE: BBC

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