The family of Sherri Papini has reportedly issued a statement slamming law enforcement after her arrest Thursday on allegations that she faked her own kidnapping in 2016.
, investigators determined that while she was missing, Papini was actually several hundred miles away in Costa Mesa with a former boyfriend who had picked her up on the day she disappeared. The two had been communicating over prepaid cellphones in the months leading up to the disappearance.
While in Costa Mesa, officials said Papini cut her hair short and injured herself to support her claims and that she asked her ex-boyfriend to brand her. The ex-boyfriend said she had stayed in his apartment during her entire disappearance while he had gone to work every day, and that the pair did not have sex. Just before Thanksgiving, the ex-boyfriend drove several hours north to drop her off after she said he missed her children.
In 2020, authorities confronted Papini after DNA evidence found on Papini’s clothing when she was found was linked to the ex-boyfriend. Officials said Papini did not retract her story about the kidnapping, despite being warned that lying to a federal agent was a crime. “The 22-day search for Sherri Papini and subsequent five-year search into who reportedly abducted her was not only taxing on public resources but caused the general public to be fearful of their own safety, a fear that they should not have had to endure,” Shasta County Sheriff Michael Johnson said.
Papini has also been charged with engaging in mail fraud after receiving more than $30,000 from the California Victims’ Compensation Board, much of it used for therapy sessions following her disappearance. Prosecutors said a GoFundMe account opened in connection to the case raised $49,000 and that some of the funds were used to pay off Papini and her husband’s credit cards.
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