Sherri Papini: Prosecutors suggest eight-month sentence for woman who faked her own kidnapping in 2016
REDDING, CALIFORNIA: Sherri Papini, a California woman who admitted to staging her own kidnapping in 2016, has been recommended an eight-month sentence by the prosecution. In an amended sentencing memo submitted on Wednesday, September 14, to the US District Court for the Eastern District of California, federal prosecutors recommended Papini serve a month in jail and seven months in home detention.
Papini had previously asserted that on November 2, 2016, while she was jogging in Redding, California, she was kidnapped by two armed Hispanic women. On the day after Thanksgiving that year, 22 days later, she went back home. Papini was actually living with her ex-boyfriend James Reyes at the time, contrary to what was later discovered to be a lie. She had also hurt herself to make her lie seem credible.
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As per CBS News, despite being lenient with respect to the sentencing guidelines, prosecutors said an eight-month sentence was appropriate for Papini because it "fully and fairly accounts for the totality of Papini's conduct and the relevant sentencing factors, and is sufficient but not greater than necessary to satisfy the sentencing purposes."
They stated, "A lesser sentence, such as the one month of imprisonment recommended by probation or home detention in lieu of incarceration, is not sufficient to achieve the purposes of sentencing."
According to US Attorney Phillip A Talbert, Papini admitted in April to "making materially false statements to FBI agents about the circumstances of her disappearance and committing mail fraud based on her being a kidnapping victim." The California Victim Compensation Board, the Social Security Administration, the Shasta County Sheriff's Office, and the FBI were awarded more than $300,000 in restitution from the 39-year-old.
Even after she was found, according to the prosecution, she "took her hoax even further" by seeking disability and victims' benefits until she was arrested. "These additional fraudulent acts suggest that Papini was not, as her therapist opines, merely coping with past abuse, but calculating to create additional benefits from her crimes," according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors added, "Papini's actions had real negative consequences for the community and other victims. There needs to be just punishment for her conduct." In addition, prosecutors suggested three years of supervised release after served time.
Law & Crime reported that Papini, who is currently awaiting sentencing for staging her own kidnapping in an admittedly "awful hoax," claimed on Wednesday through her lawyer William Portanova that the scandal's lasting shame already "feels like a life sentence." He said that his client’s name was "now synonymous with this awful hoax" and added, "The lies are out, the guilt admitted, the shame universally seen. Pre-sentencing punishment is already intense and feels like a life sentence."