Sherri Papini kidnapping hoax
Sherri Papini is an American woman known for having disappeared on November 2, 2016, reportedly while out jogging a mile from her home in Redding, California. Papini was 34 years old at the time. She reappeared three weeks later on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, having been reportedly freed by her captors at 4:30 that morning still wearing restraints, on the side of County Road 17 near Interstate 5 in Yolo County, about 150 miles (240 km) south of where she disappeared. The case garnered major media attention, with national law enforcement experts reporting doubts or otherwise baffled as to the unlikely details and inconsistencies of the reported abduction. In August 2020 she stood by her story when questioned by a federal agent and a detective from the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office, despite being advised that it was a crime to lie to a federal agent. Papini was charged with mail fraud as she had received over $30,000 from the California Victim Compensation Board between 2017 and 2021. On March 3, 2022, Papini was arrested on charges of making false statements to federal law enforcement officers and for mail fraud. According to the Department of Justice, Papini fabricated the story of