Sherri Papini, a Northern California woman who faked a kidnapping in 2016, signs a plea deal

By Eric Levenson and Stella Chan | CNN

Sherri Papini, the Northern California woman accused Faking her own kidnapping in 2016 has signed a plea deal and will confess she fabricated the entire scheme, her law firm confirmed to CNN.

“I am deeply ashamed of my behavior and so sorry for the pain I have caused my family, my friends, all the good people who have suffered needlessly because of my story and those who have worked so hard to to try to help me.” Papini said in her statement. “I will work the rest of my life to make up for what I did.”

Papini, 39, released the statement through her attorney, William Portanova, as first reported by The Sacramento Bee Tuesday.

As CNN previously reported, Papini was reported missing by her husband in November 2016 after she went for a jog near their home in Shasta County. Three weeks later, on Thanksgiving Day, she was found alone on a freeway 140 miles from home.

She told police she had been kidnapped and branded by two women who kept her tied up in a closet. She gave a full story of her abduction and treatment by the alleged attackers, who she said wore masks, spoke Spanish, held her at gunpoint and branded her with a heated tool.

However, according to the Justice Department, Papini actually stayed with an ex-boyfriend in Southern California during the three weeks she was reportedly missing and received over $30,000 in fraudulent Victim Assistance Funds as a result of the hoax. prove court records.

Daddy was loaded with made false statements to a federal law enforcement officer and mail fraud, and she agreed to plead guilty to one charge in each, prosecutors said Tuesday in a Explanation. She faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000.