Prosecutors say a California woman faked kidnapping, defrauded the state
By DON THOMPSON Associated Press
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Updated:
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California woman whose disappearance and mysterious reappearance set off a frantic three-week search more than five years ago was arrested Thursday on charges of lying to federal agents about being kidnapped and defrauding the state’s victim compensation board of $30,000.
Sherri Papini, 39, of Redding, was found on Thanksgiving Day in 2016 after weeks of searching in California and several nearby states, with bindings on her body and injuries including a broken nose and a “brand” on her right shoulder.
She had been reported missing Nov. 2. She told authorities at the time that she had been kidnapped at gunpoint by two Hispanic women, even providing descriptions to an FBI sketch artist.
In reality, authorities said, she was staying with a former boyfriend nearly 600 miles (966 kilometers) away from her home in Orange County, in Southern California, and hurt herself to back up her false statements.
“When a young mother went missing in broad daylight, a community was filled with fear and concern,” U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert said in a statement. “Ultimately, the investigation revealed that there was no kidnapping and that time and resources that could have been used to investigate actual crime, protect the community, and provide resources to victims were wasted.”
Papini does not yet have an attorney because she was just arrested, Talbert’s office said. Her first court appearance has not yet been set.
She was still lying about the kidnapping in August 2020 when she was interviewed by a federal agent and a Shasta County sheriff’s detective, the charges allege. They showed her evidence indicating she had not been abducted and warned her that it was a crime to lie to a federal agent.
But she still made false statements, the charges allege.
She also was reimbursed more than $30,000 by the California Victim’s Compensation Board based on the false story, the charges said. They included money for visits to her therapist and for the ambulance ride to the hospital after she surfaced near Sacramento.
She faces a mail fraud charge related to the reimbursement requests that carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, while lying to a federal officer has a maximum five-year sentence.
“Everyone involved in this investigation had one common goal: to find the truth about what happened on Nov. 2, 2016, with Sherri Papini and who was responsible,” said Shasta County Sheriff Michael Johnson.
That 22-day search and five-year investigation not only cost money and time, he said, “but caused the general public to be fearful of their own safety, a fear that they should not have had to endure.”
Before she disappeared, Papini had gone jogging near her home about 215 miles (350 kilometers) north of San Francisco. Her husband, Keith Papini, found only her cellphone and earphones when he went searching after she failed to pick up their children at day care.
Investigators said he passed a lie detector test. They also cleared a Detroit man they said Papini had texted and planned to meet shortly before her disappearance.
Papini’s nose was broken and she was wearing a chain restraint around her waist when she was found alongside Interstate 5 about 100 miles from her home. Her blonde hair had been cut to shoulder length and she had a “brand” burned into her right shoulder, authorities said at the time.
She had both male and female DNA on her body and clothing. But the DNA eventually led to the former boyfriend, according to a court filing.
At the time she was a stay-at-home mom and her husband worked at Best Buy. There was never a ransom demand and the family wasn’t wealthy, officials said at the time.
In retrospect, “we are relieved that the community is not endangered by unknown, violent kidnappers,” said Sean Ragan, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Sacramento Field Office.
Nathan Howard
In this aerial image taken from a drone, the city of Klamath, Calif., home of the tribal headquarters for the Yurok Tribe, dots the side of U.S. Highway 101 at sunrise on Jan. 21, 2022. The Native American tribe has issued an emergency declaration on human trafficking and missing women. There have been five instances in the past 18 months where Indigenous women have gone missing or been murdered between San Francisco and the Oregon border. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Mary Risling
In this December 2020 photo provided by Mary Risling, missing woman Emmilee Risling is seen holding her infant daughter at a home in California. The 33-year-old college graduate — an accomplished traditional dancer with ancestry from three area tribes — was last seen more than four months ago walking across a bridge near End of Road, a far corner of the Yurok Reservation where the rutted pavement dissolves into thick woods. Her disappearance is one of five instances in the past 18 months where Indigenous women have gone missing or been killed in an isolated expanse of Pacific coastline between San Francisco and Oregon, a region where the Yurok, Hupa, Karuk and Wiyot people have co-existed for millenia.(Mary Risling via AP)
Nathan Howard
In this aerial image taken from a drone, a pedestrian walks near End of Road on Jan. 19, 2022, where Emmilee Risling was last seen before going missing in October 2021, in Klamath, Calif. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Mary Risling
In this 2016 photo provided by Mary Risling, missing woman Emmilee Risling is seen with her son, then 4, at her home in McKinleyville, Calif. (Mary Risling via AP)
Nathan Howard
Brandice Davis hugs her daughter Maile Kane, 13, while talking about the disappearance of Davis' friend Emmilee Risling at their home on Jan. 20, 2022, in Hoopa, Calif. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Nathan Howard
Students at Trinidad Elementary School use shadow puppets to tell the traditional Yurok story of a little bird seeking refuge on Jan. 19, 2022, in Trinidad, Calif. Schools near the Yurok reservation have begun teaching tribal and non-tribal students alike about their peoples' history as part of a plan to reinforce cultural roots with the tribes youngest members. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Nathan Howard
Laura Woods, community outreach specialist with Yurok Tribal Court, talks about women missing from the tribe on Jan. 19, 2022, in Trinidad, Calif. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
In this 2014 photo provided by Gary Risling, Emmilee Risling, right, poses after her graduation from the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore., with her great-aunt and adoptive grandmother Viola Risling-Ryerson. (Gary Risling via AP)
Nathan Howard
Mary Risling stands near a photo of her missing sister, Emmilee Risling, at the family home on Jan. 21, 2022, in McKinleyville, Calif. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Nathan Howard
Gary Risling, left, and Judy Risling talk about the disappearance of their daughter Emmilee Risling on Jan. 21, 2022, in McKinleyville, Calif. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Nathan Howard
Gary Risling holds dancing regalia that had been used by his missing daughter Emmilee Risling at their family home, Jan. 21, 2022, in McKinleyville, Calif. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Nathan Howard
Mary Risling, 23, looks at dancing regalia that had been used by her missing sister Emmilee Risling at their family home on Jan. 21, 2022, in McKinleyville, Calif. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Nathan Howard
A dog walks along End of Road on Jan. 19, 2022, where police received and investigated reports of Emmilee Risling staying before her disappearance in October 2021 on the Yurok Reservation, Calif. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Nathan Howard
Yurok Tribal Police Chief Greg O'Rourke visits the last confirmed location on Jan. 19, 2022, where Emmilee Risling was seen before going missing in October 2021, in Klamath, Calif. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Nathan Howard
Maile Kane, 13, walks with her grandmother's dog, Charlie, outside her family's home on Jan. 20, 2022, in Hoopa, Calif. The girl's mother, Brandice Davis, said she grew up with Emmilee Risling and worries about the safety of her own daughters. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Nathan Howard
Students at Trinidad Elementary School build shadow puppets while telling the traditional Yurok story of a little bird seeking refuge on Jan. 19, 2022, in Trinidad, Calif. Schools near the Yurok reservation have begun teaching tribal and non-tribal students alike about their peoples' history as part of a plan to reinforce cultural roots with the tribes youngest members. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
