California woman who faked her own kidnapping fights for custody of her children
REDDING, Calif. — Sherri Papini, a woman from Redding, Calif., who gained national attention in 2016 by faking her kidnapping and later sentenced in 2022 after admitting it was all a hoax, appeared at the Shasta County Superior Court on Friday morning for a custody hearing as she seeks visitation rights with her children.
KRCR captured the moment Sherri Papini arrived at the courthouse early Friday morning.
According to court documents, Sherri Papini's now-ex-husband Keith Papini, filed the original petition in 2022, asking the court for legal and physical custody of their two children. Sherri Papini, who the Kinney & Kinney law firm is representing, submitted a lengthy response ahead of trial.
In public court filings obtained by KRCR, Sherri Papini said, "For eight years our family has been followed, stalked, harassed and bullied by the media. I have done my best to stay private to focus on my children and healing from the events that transpired. For many years after my arrest, I was the primary caregiver of our children before serving my time in prison. My children have always been my primary focus."
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She also accused Keith Papini of "revisiting the past and reopening old wounds rather than focusing on moving forward—at the expense of our children." Her comments referenced his participation in the recent Hulu docuseries, Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini. In her filing, she asked the judge to place a restraint on the series.
Sherri Papini was previously sentenced to 18 months in prison in September 2022, followed by 36 months of supervised release, for making materially false statements to FBI agents about the circumstances of her own hoax kidnapping and committing mail fraud based on her being a kidnapping victim, according to U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert with the Department of Justice.
However, she was released early from prison in August of 2023 and placed in a halfway house, after serving about 11 months of her 18-month sentence at a medium-security facility in Victorville.
She was also ordered to pay $309,902 in restitution to various agencies after DNA, cellphone, and car rental evidence revealed she had fabricated the story and stayed with a former boyfriend during her disappearance.
Friday's court hearing was scheduled for 8:30 a.m.
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