Sheriff who investigated California Mom’s disappearance hoax Sherry Papini said on Monday that other allegations could be looming against people close to her and that she “didn’t handle it on her own.”
Papini, 39, was arrested last Thursday for faking her disappearance in 2016. She disappeared from her Redding, California home on November 2 while jogging. She resurfaced on November 24 after a highly publicized search and claimed that she had been kidnapped by two Hispanic women who had beaten her.
Police say she made up the whole story to get attention. She is said to have lived with an ex-boyfriend for 22 days when she went missing. She convinced her ex to pick her up and take her to her Southern California apartment after she told him her husband Keith was “abusive” to her.
On Monday, Shasta County Sheriff Michael L. Johnson appeared on good morning america where he said the other accusations “won’t surprise” him.
reported that the ex-boyfriend was James Reyes, a 37-year-old sports shop worker. He confessed to the police conspiracy after being identified by DNA found on Sherry’s clothing during a family match.
Reyes was not charged, as was Sherry’s husband Keith.
The local police allege that Keith was deceived by his wife just as much as the public.
Federal prosecutors, in their 55-page criminal complaint against Sherri, detail how Keith spent $8,000 or $49,000 raised to “bring her home” on GoFundMe to pay off his credit cards.
Sheriff Johnson did not name who else could be charged on Monday, but said: “This should go to the grand jury. I certainly wouldn’t be surprised.
“She didn’t handle it on her own. Other people are also involved.
On Monday, Shasta County Sheriff Michael L. Johnson appeared on Good Morning America, where he said the other accusations “won’t surprise” him.
Sherry Papini with her husband Keith. Keith has not been charged and it is unclear if he is a suspect.
“This is a case of deliberate deceit caused by her narcissistic behavior and has really had an impact on this community and the entire country.” — Shasta County Sheriff on the arrest of Sherry Papini who they believe staged her own kidnapping in November 2016. https://t.co/kWY5S6eOU4 pic.twitter.com/2NGCKUc2kC
— Good morning America (@GMA) March 7, 2022
He called Sherry a “selfish narcissist” who squandered precious police resources and frightened society needlessly.
James Reyes, 37, is a former boyfriend who hid California “supermom” Sherry Papini for 22 days.
“This is a case of calculated deception caused by her narcissistic behavior. It really had an impact on this community and the whole country. This is a big problem. A lot of time, effort, resources, money, and multiple agencies have been invested in trying to help the victim and solve the tragic case.
“Human trafficking is a real thing and there are victims who need our help and the budget is tight. When we put our best effort into a cause and find that we have been deceived, it is very hard for everyone.
“You have a story about a typical American mom kidnapped in what appears to be a human trafficking cartel operation, which is simply not true,” he fumed.
Papini is currently being held at the Sacramento County Jail, where her lawyers say she is unable to eat due to a food allergy.
She will appear in court Tuesday at 2:00 pm PST for a custody hearing, with her preliminary hearing scheduled for March 18.
Reyes said the couple spent three weeks hiding in his Costa Mesa apartment and helped her fabricate the injuries she sustained when she returned home.
According to her lawyers, Papini is currently being held at the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, where she has difficulty eating due to food allergies. Her next court appearance is tomorrow.
In their criminal complaint, the police detail how Papini and her husband spent money given to them by strangers on her treatment and improvements to their home.
FBI agents described how he transferred the $49,000 he had raised from a GoFundMe page set up to help find Sherry to his bank account after she returned home on November 24, 2016.
He first wrote himself a check for $31,000 and then another for over $1,000. In total, Keith spent about $8,000 on his personal credit cards.
According to the indictment, Sherry spent about $3,000 paying off her credit card, with the couple using the rest of the GoFundMe money for “personal expenses.”
In 2016, the Papini family received over $49,000 in donations from strangers who wanted to help them find their missing mom. After Sherry returned home, they used the funds to pay off personal credit cards and diverted them to expenses, prosecutors allege.
Information about inmate Papini from the Sacramento County Jail. Her lawyers say she ate nothing but an apple.
Prosecutors also accused Sherry of fraudulently claiming over $30,000 from the California Victims Compensation Board between 2017 and 2021.
Prosecutors also allege that Sherry, who is described as a pathological liar and attention seeker by former boyfriends and bosses, fraudulently demanded more than $30,000 from the California Victims Compensation Board between 2017 and 2022.
She demanded 35 payments from the board and said the payments were for things like therapy and doctor visits.
She also spent $1,000 on blinds for her home, which she returned to the compensation board.
The name of the ex-boyfriend is not called. He told police how he and Sherri met in 2006 and “loved” each other. According to him, she accidentally contacted him again in 2016 and told him that her husband was abusing her.
Sherry’s husband Keith (shown in 2017) used $8,000 of GoFundMe money to pay off his personal credit card, according to the indictment.
The couple then spoke on prepaid cell phones, setting her up for months on end until November 2, when he picked her up from Redding and the alleged prank began.
The ex-boyfriend admitted to investigators that he thought their relationship would become romantic as soon as they returned to his apartment in Costa Mesa, but this did not happen.
Instead, Sherry took over his bedroom and he slept on the couch. She locked herself in a room, starved herself and cut off her hair, after which she began to injure herself.
He told how she convinced him to brand her with a hot instrument, and then on November 24 asked him to take her seven hours north, back to her home in Redding.
He said he didn’t know about the media storm that had been brewing for three weeks because he didn’t have a TV.
“THEY PLAYED MEXICAN MUSIC AND FEED ME TORTILLAS”: PAPINI’S “LIES” ABOUT KIDNAPPERS THAT SHE CLAIMS WERE SPANISH WOMEN
The 55-page sworn document reveals part of what Papini told police about the “Hispanic women” who kidnapped her.
The following are excerpts from that statement:
Papini claims two Hispanic women driving an SUV kidnapped her but covered their faces. These sketches were published almost a year after she went missing.
“They played loud music. This really annoying Mexican music. And they will watch TV. . . There was a fireplace, I could smell it. I heard that sound, you know, when you move the handle to open the fireplace. It was like a creaky sound. . . and it was cold. It was always cold. And it seemed like it was raining almost every night.
“I heard birds. I didn’t hear anything else…….they put a stereo right outside my door and . . . played very loudly.
Papini said that the abductors fed her once a day rice or flatbread, and sometimes apples.
Papini said the women put her in a toilet with a bucket of cat litter for her to use as a toilet. She described the closet as containing shelves and a metal pole to which the women tied a cable and chain, with the other end of the chain hooked around her waist. It was long enough for Papini to reach the bed, but not the door. The chain was immobile because it was bolted to the ceiling. Papini described how, when she didn’t listen to the women, they locked her in the closet.
“Papini stated that there were boards on the windows of the room in which she was kept”
“I tried to get out the first time and that’s when she branded me.”
Papini described how her captors brought a table, hit her on the back and tied her to the table. When they branded Papini, her skin made a “hissing crack” and it was very painful. Later in the same interview, Papini said that her kidnappers told her that her buyer wanted Papini to be branded because ”