For some people, social media brings out the worst. It will have them going to the extremes to gain more attention and more of a following. For one California mom influencer, Katie Sorensen, it caused her to falsely accuse an innocent couple of attempting to kidnap her kids, and almost tarnish their names in the process. Now, Sorensen has been sentenced to jail time for fabricating her story.
In 2020, Sorensen filed a police report claiming that a Latino couple, Sadie and Eddie Martinez, attempted to abduct her children. About a week following the alleged incident, she posted videos to her Instagram detailing her claims of attempted kidnapping.
The 30-year-old mother of two shared that she had been followed while shopping in a Michaels craft store. "I want to share that story with you in an efforts to raise awareness as to what signs to look for," she stated in the video on her now-deleted Instagram account.
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The videos went viral, though the police later realized that the details she shared in the Instagram videos had many more details than she provided in her police report. This prompted them to look further into her claims.
Upon doing some more investigation and obtaining the surveillance video from the Michaels store, they realized that her Instagram videos contradicted her police report and the store footage.
Sorensen was charged in 2021 with two misdemeanor counts of making a false report of a crime. She was taken into custody and her bail was set at $100,000.
On Thursday, Sorensen was sentenced to 90 days in jail. Sixty of those days have potential to be on a work release program.
She was also placed on a 12-month probation where she cannot have any social media presence. She must also submit to warrantless search and seizure, including her electronic devices, complete a four-hour implicit bias training, and pay various fines.
“Ms. Sorensen has been held accountable for her crime and we believe the Judge handed down a fair sentence,” District Attorney Carla Rodriguez stated in a press release post-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.”
According to Sorensen, she simply misinterpreted what happened on that day in 2020, claiming, “My intent was to report behavior that I felt was suspicious.” However, she almost destroyed the lives of a couple who were simply buying a baby Jesus. The Martinezes believe they were racially profiled that day, but are overall pleased that some form of justice has been served on their behalf.
