Woman Sentenced to Prison for Faking Her Own Kidnapping to Be With Ex-Boyfriend

A California woman has been sentenced to prison in connection with faking her own kidnapping to be with an ex-boyfriend.

39-year-old Sherri Papini, who in April agreed to a plea deal in the case, was sentenced on Monday to 18 months in prison followed by a 36-month period of supervised release. Papini must also pay more than $300,000 in restitution, a figure estimated to include funds she received after lying to the California Victim Compensation Board and the Social Security Administration about having PTSD from the made-up kidnapping.

Papini was first charged with 34 counts of mail fraud and a single count of making false statements. In April, she pleaded guilty as part of her aforementioned deal to one count each of mail fraud and making false statements.

In late 2016, Papini was reported missing, prompting a number of searches both in California and elsewhere. Less than a month later, Papini resurfaced with a later-proven-to-be-false claim of having been kidnapped “by two Hispanic women at gunpoint.” Papini, a mother of two, also showed injuries she said were from abuse at the hands of these nonexistent individuals. These false claims were repeated on numerous occasions, including as recently as March 2021.

In an indictment filed in April, prosecutors said Papini had started communicating with the ex-boyfriend in late 2015 and did so using her work phone and burners. During the 22-day period in which she falsely said she was being held against her will, she was actually staying with the ex, who had picked her up in a rental car and taken her to his residence in the Costa Mesa area.

Prior to the plea deal, Panini was facing up to 20 years in prison for the mail fraud counts and as much as five years behind bars for making false statements.