A California woman who made global headlines after a mysterious disappearance in 2016 and her subsequent reappearance reportedly lied about being abducted and had run off with her ex-boyfriend, officials claim.
Sherri Papini was described as a “super mom” before being reported missing on Nov. 2, 2016. She was later found on Thanksgiving Day that year on the side of a road “bound with restraints” and injuries — including a broken nose and a “brand” on the shoulder.
The 39-year-old Redding woman told investigators at the time that she had been kidnapped at gunpoint by two Hispanic women, even providing descriptions to an FBI sketch artist along with a harrowing account of her alleged abduction.
But law enforcement officials now claim her story was all a lie and arrested Papini on charges of making false statements to a federal law enforcement officer and engaging in mail fraud, officials said.
“In truth, Papini had been voluntarily staying with a former boyfriend in Costa Mesa and had harmed herself to support her false statements,” the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California said in a statement.
Papini could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison if convicted of mail fraud and up to five years if convicted of lying to the feds. She also faces fines of $250,000 for each charge.
