She said that her captors tied her to a post inside the toilet, with a bucket of cat litter serving as her toilet. Then came the beatings. And when she tried to escape, as she told the investigators, she was branded.
This is how Sherry Papini explained to investigators what happened during her disappearance in 2016, a three-week ordeal that sparked an intense and costly search in Northern California, where she lived, and several other states.
A widely publicized missing person case dropped after a truck driver spotted Ms. Papini wandering down the Interstate, but the investigation was never completed.
Federal prosecutors said this week that Ms. Papini’s allegations that two masked women kidnapped her at gunpoint while she was on the run in Redding, California were fabricated and that she continued to lie when investigators clashed. with her.
In fact, prosecutors allege that Ms. Papini, who is married with two children, lived with an ex-boyfriend and used prepaid cell phones to arrange for him to take her about 600 miles to her home in Southern California. .
Her bruises and burns were self-inflicted, prosecutors said, who announced that Ms Papini, 39, was arrested Thursday on felony charges that included lying to a federal law enforcement officer and mail fraud. The fraud allegations relate to more than $30,000 in medical and ambulance services, which prosecutors say was paid for by the California Victims Compensation Board.
Michael L. Johnson, Shasta County Sheriff, said in a statement Thursday that Ms. Papini had cost taxpayers more than $150,000 in resources used to investigate her claims and fake the kidnapping.
“This farce has not only taken valuable resources from real criminal investigations,” he wrote on Facebook, “but at a time when there are serious human trafficking cases with legitimate victims, Sherry Papini used this tragic public phenomenon to gain publicity and financial benefit. “.
Prosecutors said Ms Papini claimed her abductors were part of a human trafficking ring and told her she would be sold. The buyer is a police officer. They will never find you,” she stated, according to a felony statement one of her captors told her.
In a statement released Thursday by a public relations agency, the Papini family criticized the nature of the federal investigation and the tactics investigators used in questioning Ms. Papini and her husband Keith. The statement did not say whether Ms. Papini staged her abduction.
“We love Sherry and are appalled at how law enforcement ambushed her this afternoon in a dramatic and unnecessary manner in front of her children,” the family said in a statement. “Sherri and Keith cooperated with law enforcement requests despite repeated attempts to unnecessarily pit them against each other, empty threats to publicly embarrass them, and other actions that were less than professional.”
The statement added that the family was “confused” by several aspects of the allegations and requested clarification.
Prosecutors said Ms Papini’s unidentified ex-boyfriend confessed to participating in the fake kidnapping. DNA found on Ms Papini’s clothing led investigators to him, according to the criminal case. It matched DNA from one of the ex-boyfriend’s parents, which was collected for parentage research.
Investigators said the ex-boyfriend told them he was instructed by Ms. Papini to brand her with a craft tool.
“When a young mother went missing in broad daylight, fear and anxiety filled the community,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California Philip A. Talbert said in a statement on Ms. Papini’s arrest. “Countless hours have been spent tracking leads to get this woman back into the family.”
Prosecutors declined to comment on the allegations against Ms Papini, who appeared in court on Friday. She was ordered to detain her due to the danger and risk of flight, and her next court appearance is on Tuesday. Her lawyer Michael Borges was not available on Friday evening.
Ms. Papini faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if found guilty of making false statements to a federal investigator. A second mail fraud charge carries up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
According to the complaint, Ms. Papini went for a run on November 2, 2016. That day, her husband returned home from work to find that his wife was missing and the children had not been picked up from kindergarten. Using the Find My iPhone app, Mr Papini found his wife’s phone and her headphones, with strands of hair attached, about a mile from their home.
Mr Papini publicly called for the safe return of his wife. “Bring her home,” Mr. Papini repeated repeatedly in an interview with local KRCR-TV in Redding. – I’m going, honey. I’m trying to. I do my best and I love you.” A reward of $50,000 was also offered.
Ms. Papini mysteriously reappeared three weeks later, on November 24, in Yolo County, more than 140 miles south of where she disappeared, U.S. Attorney’s Office said. She had bandages on her body and injuries, including a brand on her right shoulder. Ms. Papini told authorities that she was kidnapped by two Hispanic women and provided a description to an FBI draftsman.
In August 2020, authorities questioned Ms Papini again about her kidnapping claim, prosecutors said. She was presented with evidence that she had not been abducted and warned that it was illegal to lie to federal agents. Authorities said instead of retracting her story, Ms Papini continued to make false claims.