Sherri Papini, the northern California woman who was supposedly kidnapped in 2016 and was recently arrested after a yearslong investigation of the case, has admitted she faked her own abduction. Papini, 39, accepted a plea deal with prosecutors Tuesday, SFGate reports. "I am deeply ashamed of myself for my behavior and so very sorry for the pain I’ve caused my family, my friends, all the good people who needlessly suffered because of my story and those who worked so hard to try to help me," she said in a statement. “I will work the rest of my life to make amends for what I have done.” The plea agreement calls for her to pay restitution of more than $300,000.
Papini will plead guilty to charges of lying to a federal law enforcement officer and mail fraud, which carry penalties of up to five years and 20 years, respectively, but as part of the plea bargain, prosecutors are expected to recommend a sentence somewhere between 8 and 14 months, the AP reports. According to an unsealed FBI affidavit, an ex-boyfriend of Papini's, who'd known her since they were teens, told police she got in touch "out of the blue" and said she was trying to escape her abusive husband, who beat and raped her. He drove to Redding to pick her up, then eventually drove her back up north, dropping her off where she asked him to. She was found 150 miles away from where she disappeared, three weeks later. (More Sherri Papini stories.)
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