The mom influencer who went viral for saying her children were nearly kidnapped is now in trouble with the law for making the whole thing up.
Katie Sorensen of Sonoma, California, went to police on December 7 claiming a Latino couple attempted to kidnap her children from a Michaels craft store parking lot in the area. A week later, she went live on Instagram to share her story with her followers. At the time, she had around 6,000 followers, but by the time she got her side of her story out there, it grew to 80,000, with the videos garnering millions of views.
The police investigation into the situation, which was terrifying for an area that had already experienced child abduction, revealed something shocking. It appears Sorensen made the entire situation up. The couple she accused, whose photo was shared publicly, came forward and cooperated completely with police in the investigation. Sorensen is now being charged with giving false information to a police officer and giving false information to a police dispatcher, CBS News reports.
A mom influencer who enjoyed her moment in the spotlight after going viral for her story of her children nearly being kidnapped is now facing the consequences for making that story up.
Katie Sorensen has been charged with two misdemeanors for giving false information to a police officer and giving false information to a police dispatcher. Her story began in December 2020, when she went to police claiming a Latino couple had attempted to kidnap her children in a Michaels craft store parking lot.
Sorenson first reported the incident to police on December 7. "She described two people (a man and woman) following her into the store and following her around inside as she shopped. The reporting party was pushing her two young children in a stroller," read a Petaluma Police Department news release about the incident.
"The reporting party said the couple made comments concerning the children's appearance as they walked behind her; she said they followed her out to her car, loitered suspiciously, and then left when noticed by another individual nearby."
A week later, Sorensen took her story to social media. Her platform as a parenting influencer, @motherhoodessentials (since changed to @motherhoodessentials_ and made private), had about 6,000 followers prior to her sharing her story, per BuzzFeed News. That grew to 80,000 quickly as her two videos garnered millions of views. The information in these videos did not match the story Sorensen gave police.
In the videos, Sorensen said that the couple, a Latino man and woman, had followed her from the parking lot into and around the store and back out to the parking lot. She also claimed that the man lunged at the stroller she pushed her two kids in. Following the videos, a number of people who had been in the store that day contacted police.
When a security camera image of the couple came out, the couple immediately came forward to cooperate with authorities. Eddie Martinez and Sadie Vega-Martinez strongly denied the claims and said they were only alerted to the situation when their daughter saw their photo online.
"Because we have five children of our own, the thought of being accused of something so ridiculous was comical," Vega-Martinez told CBS News.
However, when they realized this was likely motivated in part by their ethnicity, they felt "heartbroken."
As police spoke to others who were in the store that day, it became clear there were no accounts to corroborate Sorensen's version of events. The investigation into the couple was officially closed in December. It seemed that was the end of things until the charges against Sorensen were announced on April 29.
Making Sorensen's lie much worse is the fact that it struck fear into the hearts of a community that had experienced tragedy with child abduction prior. In 1993, 12-year-old Polly Klaas was abducted from her home in the area during a sleepover with two friends. The other two girls were tied up and had pillowcases placed over there heads, while Polly was taken and later found murdered. Her father, Marc Klaas, has become a public figure in the child safety advocacy space.
Vega-Martinez is also moving into the advocacy space as she moves on from this unexpected injustice her family has been put through.
"I'm happy that she's charged, but I of course would have been happier if it had been attached to a hate crime," she said.
"But that just gives me the strength and the gung-ho to bring the CAREN Act to Petaluma."
The CAREN Act, or Caution Against Racial and Exploitative Non-Emergencies Act, was introduced in San Francisco in July 2020, inspired by the term "Karen" being given to many of the white women who start racist incidents as such. It was approved there in October, banning false, racially biased calls to 911. Vega-Martinez was appointed by the town's mayor to be a part of an advisory committee on policing and race relations, where she introduced the idea for their own area.
As for Sorensen, she will be arraigned on May 13. If convicted, she faces up to a year in jail. In the meantime, Vega-Martinez hopes that others will learn from Sorenson's mistakes and think before they judge people.
