Sherry Papini made headlines throughout the world in 2016. She claimed she was kidnapped while jogging near her house. She consented to plead guilty to the charges of fraud and lying to the FBI about the incident. The 39-year-old has signed an agreement about the allegations brought against her. It includes mail fraud and lying about the kidnapping.
“I am deeply ashamed of myself for my behavior. And so very sorry for the pain I’ve caused to my family, my friends, all the good people who needlessly suffered because of my story; and those who worked so hard to try to help me,” Papini said in a statement released through Portanova. “I will work the rest of my life to make amends for what I have done.”
Papini consented to plead guilty to two counts of mail fraud and one count of lying to a law enforcement official, according to a plea deal issued on Tuesday in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. The plea was first published by Sacramento Bee. According to the document, Papini will pay more than $300,000 in restitution to federal, state, and local agencies.
Sherry Papini spent her victim assistance money on therapist visits
Papini was put behind the bars last month. Three weeks after her disappearance, she was found with a chain around her waist 146 miles south on Interstate 5. Authorities believe she inflicted her injuries on herself. Papini denoted her kidnappers as two Hispanic women who held her against her will. This prompted an FBI sketch artist to create a portrait and a five-year hunt in California and other places, according to police. “In truth, Papini had been voluntarily staying with a former boyfriend in Costa Mesa. And had harmed herself to support her false statements,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.
In August 2020, authorities said Papini lied to officers when they confronted her with evidence that the kidnapping was fake, the prosecutor’s office said. She also requested $30,000 in victim assistance money from 2017 to 2021. She spent the money on therapy visits.