California mother who faked kidnapping has failed to pay over $300K in restitution: Feds
Sherri Papini triggered a national media blitz after faking her own kidnapping
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Northern California mom Sherri Papini, who was released from federal prison in August after a kidnapping hoax that triggered a national media blitz and costly multi-state search, has failed to pay over $300,000 in restitution and now faces wage garnishment, according to court records.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robin Tubesing filed an application for a writ of garnishment in the amount of $340,221 against Papini and Redding, California-based Kinney & Kinney Attorneys at Law, the firm representing her in a divorce proceeding.
"As of March 22, 2024, Debtor owes $309,292.23. Despite the United States’ demand for payment, made more than 30 days before the date of this Application, Debtor has failed to satisfy the debt," the application, which was obtained by Fox News Digital, read.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Prosecutors are seeking to recover the authorized 10% litigation surcharge of $30,919, bringing the total amount of the garnishment action to $340,221.23.
SHERRI PAPINI, WHO FAKED HER OWN KIDNAPPING, RELEASED FROM PRISON
Federal prosecutors had asked that she be sentenced to eight months in prison for faking her own kidnapping in 2016. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP)
Papini is listed on the filing as the debtor, while Kinney & Kinney Attorneys At Law are listed as the Garnishee.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kinney & Kinney did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.
"Sherri Papini is working with the court and government to make payments as required," William Portanova, Papini’s criminal defense attorney, told Fox News Digital on Monday.
Papini, a mother of two, pleaded guilty in 2022 to two charges in a sweeping 35-count indictment accusing her of hatching a kidnapping scheme with her ex-boyfriend nearly eight years ago.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE - In this Nov. 10, 2016, file photo, a "missing" sign for Redding, Calif., resident Sherri Papini is seen near the location where the mother of two is initially believed to have gone missing while jogging. In March 2022, Papini was arrested on charges of faking her own kidnapping in 2016. She signed a plea deal on Tuesday, April 12, 2022, in which she will plead guilty of lying to a federal officer and mail fraud, her attorney, William Portanova, first told The Sacrament Bee. (Andrew Seng/The Sacramento Bee via AP, File)
On Nov. 2, 2016, she went for a jog in Redding, California, near her home, leaving her cellphone and earbuds on the side of the road.
She had her ex-boyfriend pick her up and drive her 600 miles south to his home in Costa Mesa.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She reemerged three weeks later on Thanksgiving Day bound, beaten and with a brand on her shoulder 150 miles from her home and pinned her abduction on two Hispanic women who she claimed held her at gunpoint.
It took investigators years to piece together what actually happened as they searched for the phantom perpetrators, with a key piece of DNA evidence playing a pivotal role in unraveling her false story.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The FBI poster of the suspects in the kidnapping of Sherri Papini. (FBI)
Investigators identified an unknown male's DNA on her underwear when she returned and matched it to a relative of her ex-boyfriend.
Once they tracked him down, he came clean and admitted to helping her brand herself and shooting a hockey puck off her leg to cause bruising before dropping her off on the side of the road.
Detectives with the Shasta County Sheriff's Office confronted her about the hoax in front of her dumbstruck husband in a 2020 videotaped interrogation, which was released last year.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The troubled mom continued to deny the kidnapping was fake or that she had been with her ex-boyfriend even as detectives confronted her with evidence that undermined her story.
She was not arrested until March 2022. Her husband filed for divorce days later.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Before her arrest, Papini illegally collected thousands of dollars in benefits by perpetuating the false kidnapping tale to the California Victim Compensation Board and the Social Security Administration.
At her sentencing, she apologized to her family and the public. She was ordered to pay about $309,000 in restitution.
Fox News Digital's Rebecca Rosenberg contributed to this report.