Sherri Papini, 40, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for a kidnapping hoax in 2016 in which she claimed to have been kidnapped by two Latino women.
Papini pleaded guilty last spring to staging her kidnapping and lying to authorities about it. She will pay $300,000 in compensation as part of a settlement.
Papini’s attorney initially asked her to spend a month in custody and the rest under house arrest, but Judge Shubb gave her an 18-month sentence.
Shubb said he looked at the “absolute number of people affected” and the severity of the offence.
The country is watching, Shubb said, paraphrasing prosecutors’ arguments in a court filing. “They need to be sent the right message. … We have to make sure that crime doesn’t pay the price.
Papini apologized to the court and stated:
I am guilty, your honor. I am guilty of lying. I am guilty of disgrace,” she said. “What has been done cannot be undone. It cannot be deleted.
William Portanova, Papini’s attorney, claimed it was “a fair sentence, although it was longer than we would have liked.”
Shubb ordered the mother to report to prison on November 8 and serve “36 months of supervision following her release, a year longer than probation officers had sought. These two charges carry a possible maximum sentence of 25 years in prison,” NPR Report.
