A woman who faked a kidnapping to escape with her ex-boyfriend will have to pay a fine of USD 300,000

In 2016 Sherri Papini was lost for 22 days. The woman, who was found wandering through a parking lot, had unleashed a search that cost the authorities hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But her abduction, which she said was perpetrated by two Hispanic women who bullied her with guns while jogging, raised many doubts that were finally confirmed after the confession of the woman, mother of two, who accepted that everything was a lie.

Papini, from California, United States, said his kidnapping was a hoax and pleaded guilty to lying to a federal officer, in addition to another count of postal fraud.

This was stated by the lawyer of the 39-year-old woman, William Portanova, to local media, who explained that the plea agreement signed by Papini includes a fine of $300,000 that will have to be reinstated to various government entities.

Papini's story began on November 2, 2016, when she said she went for a run in her neighborhood of Redding and was abducted by two armed and masked Hispanic women, who she said tortured, branded and kept her in chains in a bedroom.

She was found wandering in a parking lot 22 days later, on Thanksgiving. Her family, including her 2 and 4 year old children, welcomed her and the Redding community, which had spent days looking for her, was very supportive.

But after investigating her alleged kidnapping, authorities discovered that Papini had invented the incident and had been hiding with an ex-boyfriend in Southern California.

When confronted by the authorities, the ex-boyfriend allegedly admitted that he had helped Papini “elope” because she had told him that her husband had abused her.

After further questions, the groom said he and Papini had communicated on prepaid phones and came up with a plan to pick her up in Redding and take her back to their two-bedroom apartment in Costa Mesa.

According to a federal complaint filed against her during her stay with her ex-boyfriend, Papini was “deliberately trying to lose weight”, cut her hair and “caused injuries while she was with him, including beating herself to create bruises and burning his arms.”

“The ex-boyfriend said that he helped her create some of the injuries, although he never put his hands directly on her; for example, she told him, 'throw a (hockey) puck at my leg', so he shot a puck at his leg lightly, “says the complaint.

The woman's final sentence was scheduled to be read on July 11.

Papini's mock kidnapping cost the California Victim Compensation Board more than $30,000 in therapy visits and an ambulance ride and cost the U.S. Social Security Administration more than $127,000 to be repaid by the defendant.

Papini will also have to pay $148,866 to the Shasta County Sheriff's Office, the law enforcement agency that investigated the staged kidnapping, and $2,558 to the FBI.

In a statement released by her lawyer last week, Papini said she was “deeply ashamed” of his behavior and that she was very sorry for the pain it caused her family, friends and “all the good people who suffered needlessly because of my story.”

He also apologized to everyone who worked hard to find his whereabouts: “I will work the rest of my life to make amends for what I have done.”

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