A California “mom influencer” was sentenced to 90 days behind bars for falsely claiming a Latino couple attempted to kidnap her children while she was shopping in 2020.
Katie Sorensen will serve her time in a county jail, with 60 days eligible for a work release program.
The influencer was convicted in April for knowingly made a false report of a crime, the Sonoma County DA’s office reported.
Sorensen was also placed on 12 months of probation, which includes a restriction of having a social media presence, submit to warrantless search and seizure, including her electronic devices, complete a 4-hour implicit bias training, and various fines, the New York Post reported.
“Ms. Sorensen has been held accountable for her crime and we believe the Judge handed down a fair sentence,” District Attorney Carla Rodriguez said in a statement following the sentencing. “Our hope is that this measure of accountability will help provide some closure to the couple that was falsely accused of having attempted to kidnap two young children.”
In Dec. 2020, Sorensen drove to the Petaluma Police Department to “report suspicious behavior exhibited by two adults (a man and woman) at a Michael’s craft store,” the original police press release said.
Sorensen then accused Sadie and Eddie Martinez of abducting her 1 and 4-year-old. However, the couple only bought a decorative baby Jesus for a nativity scene at the time of the alleged kidnapping.
Several days after reporting the “false” story, Sorenson shared her alleged incident to her 57,000 followers on Instagram, claiming the Martinez’ had attempted to kidnap her children, while adding additional information not reported to law enforcement.
“My children were the targets of an attempted kidnapping,” Sorensen shared in a video to the Instagram account ‘motherhoodessentials_.’ “I want to share that story with you in an effort as to what signs to look for and encourage parents to be more aware of their surroundings and what is going on around them.”
Her Instagram video garnered nearly five million views and led to her talking to a local news outlet, led Sorensen to be interviewed by a local news outlet, which she again shared the details she never told the police.
This then prompted authorities to launch an investigation into her claims.
Police conducted a follow-up interview with the mother, where she identified the alleged suspects, but her account contradicted the couple’s experience and the store video that proved there was no suspicious activity.
Sadie Martinez called the accusations against her racially motivated.
“Do you really think it’s OK to go online and be racist and make stories about a family?,” she said while speaking to news outlets. “It’s hard enough to be a Latin family in a white community.”
Sorensen was charged on two misdemeanor counts of making a false report of a crime, but one charge was dropped before her hearing earlier this year.
Following the Thursday sentencing, Sorensen was immediately remanded to begin serving her sentence, no booking photo was available as of early Friday.
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