“My current focus is on moving on and doing everything I can to provide my two children with as normal, healthy and happy of a life as possible," Keith Papini said.
Sherri Papini's estranged husband is focusing on the future in the wake of his wife's sentencing for faking her own kidnapping in 2016, the father of two said after breaking his silence.
“The events have been shocking and devastating,” Keith Papini said in a statement. “My current focus is on moving on and doing everything I can to provide my two children with as normal, healthy and happy of a life as possible."
Sherri Papini was initially believed to have disappeared while out jogging a mile from her home in Redding, California. She was discovered wearing restraints on the side of County Road 17 in Yolo County, about 150 miles from where she supposedly vanished, three weeks later on Thanksgiving day, claiming to have been freed by her captors.
Just-released photos of a beaten and branded Sherri Papini show the great lengths she took to inflict injuries on herself to bolster the elaborate lie that she was kidnapped and tortured by two Hispanic women. Video of police interrogating Sherri, with Keith by her side, was also just released.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Sherri says in the video.
Sherri Papini denied the kidnapping hoax, even though police told her they had DNA evidence that showed she'd been hiding out with ex-boyfriend James Reyes. Reyes was not charged with any crime.
Sherri pleaded guilty to fraud charges earlier this year. Shortly after, Keith Papini filed for divorce and sole custody of their two children, CNN reported.
Before her sentencing on Monday, she asked the court for leniency, but was sentenced to 18 months in prison — double what prosecutors had asked for.
“I think we have a version of justice, yeah. My personal feelings are, I think that she still got off pretty easy,” Shasta County Sheriff Michael Johnson said.
Sherri Papini’s sister is also denouncing her.
“My sister is deeply disturbed. Sadly, despite what she has expressed to the media, she feels no remorse or guilt for the untold damage she has caused,” Sheila Marie Koester wrote on Facebook.
Sherri Papini also agreed to pay $300,000, part of which will cover the cost of the investigation into her fake kidnapping.
