Sherri Papini Released from Prison After Sentence for Faking Kidnapping

Papini admitted to faking her 2016 kidnapping last year and was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison

Published on August 28, 2023 01:15PM EDT

Sherri Papini leaves the federal courthouse after Federal Judge William Shubb sentenced her to 18 months in federal prison, in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. — Sherri Papini. Photo:
AP/Rich Pedroncelli

Sherri Papini, the woman who infamously faked her own kidnapping in November 2016, was released from federal prison last week and is now under community confinement.

Federal prison records reviewed by PEOPLE show Papini, 41, is residing at a residential reentry facility in Sacramento County.

Papini, a mother of two, faked her kidnapping and later pleaded guilty to mail fraud and making false statements. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison last September.

The then-34-year-old had gone missing for 22 days before suddenly reappearing alongside a Sacramento-area highway on Thanksgiving Day. Papini initially told investigators she was violently abducted by two Hispanic women, who she claimed had beaten and branded her over the course of her purported captivity.

However, Papini later admitted to making the whole story up, revealing she instead fled nearly 600 miles south from her Redding, Calif., home to stay with her then-boyfriend in Costa Mesa, Calif.

FILE - Sherri Papini of Redding leaves the federal courthouse after her arraignment in Sacramento, Calif., April 13, 2022. During a virtual hearing Papini accepted a plea bargain with prosecutors and pleaded guilty, Monday, April 18, 2022, to a single count of mail fraud and one count of making false statements. She will be sentenced on July 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) — Sherri Papini.
AP/Rich Pedroncelli

During her stay with her now ex-boyfriend, Papini convinced him to brand her right shoulder with indistinguishable letters and had him hit her with hockey pucks to force bruising and make it appear she had been beaten by kidnappers, according to NBC, which first reported her release from prison.

After 22 days together, Papini told the ex-boyfriend that she missed her kids and wanted to go home. He said he dropped her off on the side of the road where she was later found, PEOPLE previously reported.

Sherri Papini Missing Sign. Andrew Seng/The Sacramento Bee via AP

After years of investigating her alleged abduction, authorities arrested and charged Papini last March.

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Papini confessed to lying about her kidnapping a month later, telling a California courtroom she was "deeply ashamed" of her behavior and "sorry for the pain I've caused my family, my friends, all the good people who needlessly suffered… I will work the rest of my life to make amends for what I have done."

Two days later, her husband Keith filed for divorce.

Papini is scheduled for release from community confinement in late October, records show.