SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sherri Papini, the Redding mother accused of orchestrating an elaborate abduction hoax in 2016 and lying to federal agents about it, was allowed to leave jail on Tuesday.
During a virtual detention hearing Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremy D. Peterson agreed with Papini's attorney that she wasn't a flight risk or a threat to the community.
She was released on the promise her family would post a $120,000 bond.
Papini sprinted out of the Sacramento County Main Jail's doors just before 5 p.m. with a gaggle of reporters chasing her. She was welcomed by five family members, who surrounded Papini to block camera views as they escorted to her a vehicle. Neither Papini nor her family made a statement.
In court, federal prosecutors argued that Papini needed to be confined, calling her a danger to the community and due to her being an "extreme flight risk" after she orchestrated an "elaborate scheme" that included branding herself to fake her own kidnapping.
"This defendant ran and successfully hid from law enforcement for three weeks," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Veronica Alegria.
Alegria also argued that when FBI agents tried to arrest Papini on Thursday, she tried to run from them and threw her cellphone 20 feet.
"She screamed 'no' and ran away from them and resisted arrest," Alegria said.
Papini's Redding attorney, Michael Borges, countered that the arrest, which took place at her children's piano practice, took the mother by surprise. He said Papini was merely running toward her children who were behind her. Prosecutors said the FBI agents tried to lure Papini outside the piano studio and away from her children by saying her car had been in an accident.
"She's not a danger to the safety of anyone," Borges said.
Peterson said he was concerned about "the defendant's track record of alleged dishonest conduct," but Papini's large support network and lack of criminal history or substance abuse made her eligible for release so long as certain conditions were met. Those conditions included surrendering her passport and her and her husband's firearms and limiting her travel. She was also ordered to abstain from drugs and alcohol, not commit any crimes and undergo psychiatric treatment.
Peterson warned Papini that due to a COVID-19 backlog, federal courts are processing cases much slower than they normally would be, so if she violated any of the terms of her release, she would be confined until her trial. That process could take potentially years.
"You should take this very seriously," he said.
Papini, 39, spent five nights in the Sacramento County Main Jail after she was charged in a 55-page federal criminal complaint with one count of making false statements to federal agents and one count of mail fraud.
The charge that she lied to the FBI during interviews could net her five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The wire fraud charge, which stems from her receipt of $30,000 from the California Victim Compensation Board for therapy, ambulance services and window blinds for her home, could result in up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Papini disappeared in November 2016, setting off a three-week nationwide search by law enforcement. She was found Thanksgiving Day morning walking along a road near Woodland with a chain around her waist and one arm and various bruises and other injuries.
Papini later told authorities she had been abducted by "two Hispanic women" and kept chained in a closet.
After she was found, her clothing was tested and investigators found male DNA that was entered into the state's database. In 2020, authorities got a hit for DNA similar to that found on her clothing and eventually traced it to an ex-boyfriend in the Orange County city of Costa Mesa, court papers say.
FBI agents contacted the man in August 2020 and he "admitted to investigators that he helped Papini 'run away,'" court papers say.
The FBI confronted Papini about what they learned later that year, but she stuck with her original story despite being told it was a crime to lie to federal agents, according to the complaint filed in the case.
Papini's next hearing was scheduled for March 25.
