Kathleen ‘Katie’ Sorensen mom influencer sentenced to 90 days county jail, of which 60 day can be served in work release, for making a false crime report in which she blamed a Latino couple of kidnapping her kids.
A California social media influencer who falsely claimed that a Latino couple attempted to kidnap her children while she was shopping in 2020 has received jail time for her dubious deeds.
Katie Sorensen was on Thursday sentenced to serve 90 days in county jail, 60 of which could be on a work release program, for knowingly making a false report of a crime, the Sonoma County DA’s office announced.
The ‘mom influencer’, who was convicted in April, was also placed on 12 months of probation where she cannot have any social media presence, submit to warrantless search and seizure, including her electronic devices, complete a 4-hour implicit bias training, and various fines.
‘Measure of accountability’
‘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 press release 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 accused Sadie and Eddie Martinez of abducting her 1 and 4-year-old children despite the couple only buying a decorative baby Jesus for a nativity scene at the time of the alleged kidnapping.
Several days after reporting the crime, Sorenson shared her story for her 57,000 followers on Instagram, claiming the Martinez’ had attempted to abduct her kids, while adding additional information not reported to law enforcement.
‘My children were the targets of an attempted kidnapping,’ Sorensen shared in a since removed video to the Instagram account ‘motherhoodessentials.’
‘Do you really think it’s OK to go online and be racist and make stories about a family?’
‘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,’ the mom influencer wrote.
The Instagram video, viewed nearly five million times and her subsequent interview with a local news outlet, led Sorensen to sharing details she never told the police, which (shock us all blind) led to an investigation into her claims.
Police conducted a follow-up interview with Sorensen with the woman identifying the Martinezes as the alleged perps, only for her account to contradict the couple’s experience. Store video corroborated the accused couple’s version of events, disproving any claims of suspicious activity.
Sadie Martinez would eventually respond, calling 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 told KTVU several days after the incident was reported. ‘It’s hard enough to be a Latin family in a white community.’
‘selfishness and maliciousness’
Sorensen was charged in April 2021 on two misdemeanor counts of making a false report of a crime, with one charge dropped before her hearing earlier this year.
Attending Thursday’s hearing, Sadie Martinez briefly addressed Sorensen before the court. She said a ‘heartfelt apology’ could have prevented matters from reaching this point, the Press Democrat reported.
‘This didn’t have to be like this,’ said Sadie Martinez who had attended the sentencing with her husband.
As she handed down the sentence, Judge Laura Passaglia said Sorensen handled the matter with ‘selfishness and maliciousness’ toward the Martinezes, the community and police.
Following her sentencing, Sorensen was immediately remanded to begin serving her sentence.
