A tearful Sherri Papini appears in Sacramento court ahead of planned guilty plea in hoax

A tearful Sherri Papini made a brief appearance in Sacramento federal court Wednesday in anticipation of her expected guilty plea next week to charges that she faked her own kidnapping from Redding in 2016, then lied to the FBI about it.

Papini, 39, was accompanied by her Sacramento defense attorney, William Portanova, for the 10-minute hearing at which she nervously answered questions in a halting voice and occasionally dabbed her eyes and nose with a tissue.

Dressed in a gray blazer and gray slacks, with her blond hair pulled back into a bun and a black face mask over her mouth and nose, Papini entered the eighth-floor courthouse hallway and quietly shook hands with a few reporters but did not speak about her case at her attorney’s direction.

Inside Chief Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman’s courtroom, Papini agreed to waive indictment and face charges through a charging document known as an information.

Answering a series of routine questions from Newman, she replied “Yes, your honor” and “No, your honor” to the queries, and told Newman she left high school in her junior year and took some college-level and GED classes but did not receive her GED.

Newman explained the penalties for the 34 mail fraud counts she faces — up to 20 years in prison — and the charge of making false statements to federal agents, which can carry a five-year sentence.

Unlike the chaotic scene last month, when Papini was released on bond from the Sacramento County Main Jail and ran through a sea of reporters and photographers to a waiting vehicle, Portanova escorted her to court without incident.

Papini is scheduled to appear by Zoom on Monday for a change of plea hearing at which she is expected to plead guilty to one count of making false statements and one count of mail fraud. She faces sentencing in the case July 11.

Papini agreed to a plea deal Tuesday and issued a statement of remorse through her attorney, who has said she will admit to making up the story about being kidnapped.

Papini’s disappearance in November 2016 sparked worldwide media coverage that intensified after she was found on a roadway near Woodland on Thanksgiving morning and told authorities she had been taken by “two Hispanic women.”

The FBI and Shasta County investigators continued to probe her claims, eventually tracing DNA taken from her clothing when she was found to an ex-boyfriend, who told investigators that he had helped her disappear and had her stay 600 miles south of Redding in his Costa Mesa apartment during the hoax.

This story was originally published April 13, 2022 at 2:32 PM.