Sherri Papini, the blue-eyed “supermom” who prosecutors say faked her own abduction, was released from jail on a $120,000 bond, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. 

Papini, 39, had been held at the Sacramento County Jail since Thursday, after federal investigators arrested her on mail fraud charges and for making false statements to law enforcement. 

She’s accused of concocting a “sophisticated and elaborate” scheme to fake her own kidnapping in 2016 by getting an ex-boyfriend to pick her up near her Redding, California home and hold her in his home for three weeks amid a nationwide manhunt. 

The mother of two told police two Hispanic women held her against her will, chopped off her blonde locks, beat her up and branded her before setting her free on Thanksgiving Day 2016. 

In reality, prosecutors say the injuries were all self-inflicted and part of Papini’s ruse.

During a virtual bail hearing at Sacramento federal court Tuesday, prosecutors asked Judge Jeremy Peterson to keep Papini locked up, arguing she was a major flight risk and had previously gone to “extreme measures” to hide from law enforcement. 

“I don’t think even putting an ankle bracelet on her could ensure her appearance because if someone is willing to brand themselves, they’re just as easily to be willing to cut off an ankle monitor,” prosecutors argued. 

“This defendant ran away and successfully hid from law enforcement for three weeks and only returned out of her own will despite a nationwide hunt for her and now in that instance, she was not facing federal prison time, which would’ve given her even more of a motivation to flee.” 

Papini’s attorney Michael Borges argued Papini should be released on her own recognizance considering she has no criminal record and the offenses she was charged with were non-violent. He asked that his client be spared an ankle monitor because any kind of “restraints” are “traumatizing” given her past abduction, which Papini still maintains happened. 

“Papini has a diagnosed condition, complex post-traumatic stress disorder…  and that condition might be exacerbated by affixing the GPS monitor,” said Borges. 

“Physical restraints have an impact on both her psychiatric well being and also risks public ridicule and stigmatization of Mrs. Papini while she maintains the presumption of innocence.” 

Prosecutors further argued that when cops tried to place her under arrest, she resisted and attempted to run away. After tailing her from her home to a piano lesson for her children, an officer went inside the building and lied to her that her car had been involved in an accident so they could take her into custody safely outside and not in the presence of her children. 

But when Papini was told she was under arrest, she allegedly screamed “No!”, she threw her phone approximately 20 feet and ran away from the officer, prosecutors said. 

“She was not able to get very far before the agent did manage to arrest her but she did resist, she had to go… partially to the ground in order for him to arrest her. At some point during the arrest her children did exit the building and did see her arrest,” prosecutors said. 

Borges denied the prosecutor’s description of the events and said Papini only moved her body to be closer to her children, fearing they were in danger. 

Peterson ultimately found that he had “serious concerns” about the allegations against Papini and her alleged history of “dishonesty” and agreed to release her on a $120,000 partially secured bond. $70,000 of the bond will be secured by her husband Keith Papini’s property and the additional $50,000 will be co-signed by her parents. 

Papini, who appeared virtually on Zoom, didn’t speak once throughout the duration of the hearing. She was ordered to surrender her passport, undergo psychiatric treatment, hand over a DNA sample and not travel outside of the court’s jurisdiction. 

She’ll be back in court on March 25.