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Federal prosecutors asked a judge to sentence California “super mom” Sherri Papini to eight months in prison, saying she continues to lie about faking her kidnapping six years ago, according to court records.

Prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo filed this week that the 40-year-old woman continues to tell people that she actually was kidnapped in 2016 — even after pleading guilty to fraud and lying counts, according to the Sacramento Bee.

“Papini’s actions had real negative consequences for the community and other victims,” Assistant US Attorneys Veronica Alegria and Shelley Weger wrote in the document. “There needs to be just punishment for her conduct.”


  Sherri Papini, 40, is scheduled to be sentenced in Sacramento next Monday. AP Sherri Papini, 40, is scheduled to be sentenced in Sacramento next Monday. AP

Prosecutors rejected a recommendation by probation officials that Papini serve one month either in prison or under house arrest, dismissing the lenient punishment as a “slap on the wrist” that would do nothing to deter her from spreading lies about her case, and others from committing similar crimes.

Papini is scheduled to be sentenced next Monday in Sacramento federal court.

Papini pleaded guilty in April to lying to federal investigators and mail fraud related to her sensational kidnaping hoax.

The charges stemmed from the more than $30,000 that Papini had received from the California Victim Compensation Board for the trauma she claimed to have suffered.


  In April, the mom of two pleaded guilty to federal charges of mail fraud and lying to federal agents. Shasta County Sheriff's Office In April, the mom of two pleaded guilty to federal charges of mail fraud and lying to federal agents. Shasta County Sheriff's Office

A month after the plea deal, Papini’s husband, Keith Papini, filed for divorce.

In November 2016, the married mom of two was discovered injured 150 miles from her Shasta County home after being missing for 22 days.

The supposed abduction victim had a chain around her wrist and a “brand” that had been seared into her shoulder.

The self-described “super mom” told cops that she was abducted at gunpoint by two Hispanic women while out jogging and then tortured in captivity.

The case made national headlines and sparked a massive manhunt for Papini’s supposed kidnappers.

It was not until Papini was reminded that lying to federal agents was a crime that it was revealed that she was with her ex-boyfriend at his apartment during her time away from home.


  In November 2016, Papini was found injured on a road, three weeks after she claimed she was kidnapped at gunpoint by two Hispanic women, which turned out to be a lie. AP In November 2016, Papini was found injured on a road, three weeks after she claimed she was kidnapped at gunpoint by two Hispanic women, which turned out to be a lie. AP

In arguing for a harsher sentence, prosecutors stressed that Papini’s hoax was deliberate and planned.

“Papini’s false reports about being kidnapped were not something she invented after her return to avoid the repercussions of running away from her husband and family,” they wrote. “Rather, the evidence shows that Papini planned this hoax before her disappearance.”

They pointed to Papini’s own admission that she had left her phone with strands of her blond hair on the road, knowing that her family would find them, which prosecutors claimed was a mark of “the sophistication of her plan to carry out the hoax.”


  Sherri’s husband, Keith Papini, filed for divorce just days after her guilty pleas. Facebook Sherri’s husband, Keith Papini, filed for divorce just days after her guilty pleas. Facebook

Prosecutors maintained that Papini’s web of lies had serious consequences for law enforcement agencies, which expended massive resources on the search for her, and for the Hispanic community in her hometown, which was unfairly maligned by her.

“Papini’s crime has many societal harms such as causing the public to live in fear and possibly causing law enforcement to doubt the veracity of future victims’ claims,” they wrote. “An entire community believed the hoax and lived in fear that Hispanic women were roving the streets to abduct and sell women.”

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