Under a plea agreement in which she admits she faked her own kidnapping, Sherri Papini will be required to pay more than $300,000 in restitution to various government agencies, including nearly $149,000 to the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office.
The 39-year-old Redding woman will be required to pay back a total of $309,686 to the California Victims Compensation Board, the U.S. Social Security Administration, the sheriff’s office and the FBI.
In November 2016, her husband, Keith Papini, reported her missing, setting off a nationwide search for her.
There were community rallies, numerous news conferences, television shows, family statements, rewards offered and an investigation to track down leads that stretched across the country.
But 22 days after her reported kidnapping while jogging along a dirt road north of Redding, she was found wandering along a remote section of Interstate 5 north of Sacramento, bound with chains.
She told investigators she was kidnapped at gunpoint by two Hispanic women who blindfolded her and held her captive, cut her hair and branded her.
It turns out, though, that she made the whole thing up, according to court documents.
While law enforcement, Papini’s husband and the rest of her family searched for her, she was holed up at an ex-boyfriend’s home in Orange County, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.
She was arrested and charged in March with fraud and lying to the FBI. On Tuesday, she signed an agreement to plead guilty to the two…
