Sherri Papini invented a wild kidnapping hoax. The true story is even stranger (via latimesopinion)
Sherri Papini disappeared from her Northern California neighborhood in November 2016, but she made it home in time for Thanksgiving.
She continued to lie about the incident even when confronted with the evidence by investigators, until finally, in April,On Monday, Papini, 40, was sentenced in a Sacramento courtroom to 18 months in prison in connection with what her own attorney called a “non-sensical fantasy” that she had orchestrated herself.
After arriving in Shasta County, about 200 miles north of Sacramento, he waited at a Starbucks for her to message him. “He asked her how long the trip took, whether she felt changes in altitude, what she could describe about the vehicle that she was in,” investigators said in court documents. Just before she decided to go back home to Redding, Papini started to hurt herself, according to the ex-boyfriend, who told investigators she ate only small portions of food.
The ex-boyfriend drove to a Hobby Lobby in Huntington Beach and bought the device. When he returned home, she asked him to brand her right shoulder. According to court documents, he said she didn’t seem to mind the pain.By this time, Papini had told her old friend that she missed her family and two kids, who were 2 and 4 years old. She wanted to go back to Northern California.
On the same day Papini was treated at the Woodland hospital, residents in Redding released yellow balloons in her honor, unaware that Papini had already been “found.” “Sure, the Redding community was duped by her story,” McArthur recently told The Times. “But he was just as duped too. It was clear that he was hurt. I just feel bad for her family, for her kids.”
He thought to himself, “I’m not going to make any calls because it’s like I’m turning myself in for nothing,” according to his interview with investigators. Investigators said Keith Papini, now 38, used a portion of $50,000 raised from a GoFundMe campaign meant to pay for her search to pay off credit card bills. He has since filed for divorce. Sherri Papini also received more than $30,000 from a state victim’s compensation fund, which she used to pay for medical bills, including therapy, and to purchase blinds for her home.
Her attorney, William Portanova, said in a court filing that his client has “chameleonic personalities” and that her life was painful until she was married and began a family. “I am guilty, your honor. I am guilty of lying, guilty of dishonor,” Papini said. She said she was willing to accept the court’s judgment. She thanked the government for exposing her hoax and for allowing her to take a plea agreement.“People don’t like to be conned,” Shubb said, noting the GoFundMe donations.“Someone may think, ‘I can get away with it,’” Shubb said. “We have to make sure that crime does not pay.
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