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Sherri Papini, the California mom accused of staging her own abduction in 2016, has been released on bail from the Sacramento County Jail.
Papini, 39, was released on a $120,000 bond Tuesday, a public information officer with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California confirmed to PEOPLE.
Under the conditions of her release, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremy Peterson ruled that Papini can only travel within one part of California, must surrender her passport and has to undergo psychiatric treatment,CNN reports.
Prosecutors had argued that Papini should not be released. Assistant U.S. Attorney Veronica Alegria said during Tuesday’s virtual hearing that Papini “screamed ‘no’ and ran away” from FBI agents when they tried to arrest her, perCBS News. Michael Borges, Papini’s attorney, claimed his client had been running toward her children.
Borges did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Sherri and Keith Papini.Courtesy Keith Papini
Her release comes a week after Papini wasfirst arrestedand charged with making false statements to a federal law enforcement officer and engaging in mail fraud. She was first reported missing in early November 2016 after going for a jog.
“In truth, Papini had been voluntarily staying with a former boyfriend in Costa Mesa and had harmed herself to support her false statements,” investigators said in the press release.
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Andrew Seng/The Sacramento Bee via AP
Papini’s alleged staged kidnapping cost the California Victim’s Compensation Board over $30,000 in therapy visits and an ambulance trip, the statement said.
“The 22-day search for Sherri Papini and subsequent five-year search into who reportedly abducted her was not only taxing on public resources but caused the general public to be fearful of their own safety, a fear that they should not have had to endure,” Shasta County Sheriff Michael L. Johnson said in the release.
If convicted of making false statements to a federal officer, Papini faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. She also faced up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 for mail fraud.
source: people.com
