A California mother of two has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after she faked her own kidnapping so she could go back to a former boyfriend.
Sherri Papini disappeared one day, leaving behind her husband and two children.
Her disappearance led to a three-week, multi-state search with hundreds of officers and the FBI.
Unknown to her family, she had run away to rekindle her romance with an ex boyfriend.
Papini eventually wanted to return home but had to go the distance to sell her kidnapping.
She was found with bindings on her body, a swollen nose, bruises and rashes across her body, ligature marks on her wrists and ankles, burn marks and a brand made by pressing hot metal against her skin.
All of the injuries were self-inflicted and were designed to substantiate her story.
Papini pleaded guilty last spring to staging the abduction and lying to the FBI about it.
As part of a plea bargain, she is required to pay more than $300,000 in restitution.
Probation officers and Papini’s attorney had also recommended that she spend a month in custody and seven months in supervised home detention, while prosecutors wanted her to serve the eight months behind bars.
However, Senior U.S. District Judge William Shubb more than doubled the sentence to 18-months in order to deter others.
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