SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Less than a day after 39-year-old Sherri Papini, of Redding, was arrested by authorities on suspicion of lying to federal agents about being kidnapped and defrauding the state victim compensation board of $30,000, her family is respond to the allegations.
Papini was found on Thanksgiving Day in 2016 after a frantic three-week search in California and several nearby states, with bindings on her body and injuries including a swollen nose and a “brand” on her right shoulder.
She had been missing since Nov. 2 of 2016 and told authorities at the time that she had been kidnapped at gunpoint by two Hispanic women. Papini gave descriptions of the alleged suspects to an FBI sketch artist along with extensive details of her purported abduction.
Authorities now say Papini was staying with a former boyfriend in Orange County, nearly 600 miles away from her Redding home, and hurt herself in order to back up her false statements.
RELATED: Sherri Papini case timeline
In a statement released to ABC News, Papini's family said they are appalled at the way law enforcement announced the allegation saying she was unnecessarily ambushed.
"We love Sherri and are appalled by the way in which law enforcement ambushed her this afternoon in a dramatic and unnecessary manner in front of her children," the Papini family wrote in a statement to ABC News. "If requested, Sherri would have fully complied and come to the police station, as she has done multiple times before, where this could have been handled in a more appropriate way."
The Papini family told ABC News that law enforcement has attempted to pit Sherri against her husband, Keith, alleging that the conduct of law enforcement was "less than professional" and included empty threats and public embarrassment of the two.
"Sherri and Keith have cooperated with law enforcement’s requests despite repeated attempts to unnecessarily pit them against each other," the statement reads. "We are confused by several aspects of the charges and hope to get clarification in the coming days."
Missing person's investigator Bill Garcia who dedicated the past 30 years to help find missing children and women, helped leaded searches for Papini.
"So, many people, so many resources," Garcia said. "So much financial burden was put out to find this young lady, to come to find out that it was all a fraud."
The charges allege Papini still lied about the kidnapping in August 2020 when she was interviewed by a federal agent and a Shasta County sheriff’s detective. She is currently at the Sacramento County Jail. She is expected to appear again in court next week to discuss the possibility of bail.
Watch More from ABC10:Amazon Parrot returned after being stolen from Stockton pet store
