Sherri Papini, the Californian mother who faked her own kidnapping in 2016 in a hoax that was exposed with the help of advances in DNA technology, was sentenced to a year and a half in prison on Monday, according to a report. statement from the Department of Justice.
Judge William B. Shubb ruled that Papini, 40, should serve 18 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release after she admitted to the hoax and pleaded guilty in April to submitting fraud and making false statements.
She was also ordered to pay nearly $310,000 in restitution.
The sentence was much longer than the lawyers had requested. Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence her to eight months in prison, while the defense asked for one month in prison and seven months of house arrest.
The charges date back to November 2016, when Papini was reported missing after going for a run near her home in Northern California’s Shasta County.
Three weeks later, she was found injured and alone on a highway about 140 miles away. She told police she was kidnapped and tortured by two masked, Spanish-speaking women who kept her chained in a closet, held her at gunpoint and branded her with a heated tool.
The accusations prompted authorities to carry out an extensive search for the alleged Hispanic captors that remained vacant for several years. She also received more than $30 (nearly R$150,000) from the state in victim compensation funds.
However, her story fell apart when investigators in 2020 linked DNA from her clothes to an ex-boyfriend, who then admitted the alleged kidnapping was a hoax.
In their sentencing memo, federal prosecutors said the hoax squandered resources and caused police to investigate innocent targets.
“Papini planned and carried out a sophisticated kidnapping hoax, and then continued to perpetuate her false statements for years after her return without regard for the harm she caused to others,” prosecutors said in the filing.
“As a result, state and federal investigators devoted limited resources to Papini’s case for nearly four years before they independently learned the truth: that she was not kidnapped and tortured.”
“Papini has made innocent individuals the targets of a criminal investigation,” the prosecutors added. “She left the public in fear of her alleged Hispanic captors who allegedly remained at large.”
In the defense’s sentencing memo, Papini’s lawyer noted that she admitted to the hoax and said her reputation had suffered enough as it is.
“Sherri’s years of denial are now undeniably over. Her name is now synonymous with this horrible farce. There is no escape,” attorney William Portanova wrote in the file.
Source: CNN Brasil
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