Sherri Papini, the woman from Northern California who was accused last month of pretending to be abducted in 2016, accepted an agreement with prosecutors on Tuesday and admitted that she fabricated the story that sparked a frantic search and international headlines. Defense attorney William Portanova said his client would plead guilty to charges of lying to a federal officer and mail fraud. “I am deeply ashamed of myself for my behavior and I am very sorry for the pain I caused to my family, to my friends, to all the good people who suffered unnecessarily because of my story and to those who worked so hard to help me. . “, He said in a statement released through Portanova. “I will work the rest of my life to make up for what I have done.” The objection agreement was first mentioned by The Sacramento Bee. The search for Papini, 39, from Redding, began a three-week search across California and several nearby states until it reappeared on Thanksgiving 2016. She had bandages on her body and injuries, including a blurred “mark” on her right shoulder and a swollen nose. She had other bruises and rashes on many parts of her body, signs of ligation on her wrists and ankles and burns on her left forearm. Federal prosecutors claimed in early March that she was actually living with an ex-boyfriend nearly 966 miles away in Orange County, Southern California, and was injured to support her false statements. It is unclear what punishment he will face, but the charges carry up to five years in federal prison for lying to a federal police officer and up to 20 years for mail fraud. Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento, said she could not confirm the deal or any of its elements. Papini was reported missing on November 2, 2016. She was found next to Interstate 5, almost 150 miles (240 kilometers) from her home, beaten and with bandages on her wrists and ankles. He later told authorities he had been abducted at gunpoint by two Hispanic women and provided descriptions to an FBI cartoonist along with extensive details about her alleged abduction. She was still making false statements until August 2020, when prosecutors said a federal agent and a Shasta County Sheriff’s Detective showed evidence she had not been abducted and warned her it was a crime to lie to an accomplice. Mail fraud charges include more than $ 30,000 in compensation received from the California Victims Compensation Board based on false history. They included money for visits to her therapist for “treatment for anxiety and PTSD,” according to a court statement, and for an ambulance ride to the hospital after she appeared near Sacramento. A GoFundMe campaign raised more than $ 49,000 to help the family, which the couple used to pay the bills and other expenses, according to court testimony from investigators. At that time she was a mom who lived at home and her husband worked at Best Buy. The family was not wealthy and there was never a demand for ransom, officials said at the time. She had been jogging that day near her home about 350 miles north of San Francisco. Her husband, Keith Papini, found only her cell phone and headphones when she searched, as she failed to pick up their children at daycare. She left her bag and jewelry behind. He underwent a lie detector test, the researchers said. Papini had both male and female DNA on her body and clothes when she was found and the DNA eventually led to her ex-boyfriend, prosecutors say. The ex-boyfriend told investigators that Papini stayed with him while he was away and asked him to come to Redding to pick her up. Authorities verified his account by tracking two prepaid cell phones they had been using to talk secretly to each other since December 2015, according to the court’s testimony. An ex-boyfriend’s cousin also told investigators that he saw Papini, unrestrained, in the man’s apartment twice. Records also claimed the ex-boyfriend’s story that he rented a car and drove Papini back to Northern California about three weeks later.
