A ‘momfluencer’ in California who went viral after alleging that a Latino couple tried to snatch her children has been sentenced to three months in jail for making a false report of a crime.
Katie Sorensen, 31, fabricated the story about her children being kidnapped and was placed in handcuffs after being sentenced in a Sonoma County courtroom on Thursday.
She claimed Eduardo and Sadie Martinez had tried to kidnap her two young children at a Michael’s craft store in Petaluma on December 7, 2020.
Mom-of-three Sorensen made a false police report a few minutes after leaving the carpark and later posted two Instagram videos in which she detailed how she avoided the ‘kidnapping’ attempt.
She will now be jailed for three months – two of which can be served in a work release program.
Wannabe momfluencer Katie Sorensen, 31, has been found guilty of making a fake kidnapping claim. She will now be jailed for three months – two of which can be served in a work release program
Sorensen, pictured with one of her sons, claimed that Eduardo and Sadie Martinez had tried to kidnap her two young children at a Michael’s craft store in Petaluma on December 7, 2020
Mrs Martinez (pictured left with her husband) said she was satisfied with the verdict and believed ‘justice was served’
Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez previously said the jury’s guilty verdict will help exonerate the couple she falsely accused.
Mrs Martinez said she was satisfied with the verdict and believed ‘justice was served’.
And today, Mrs Martinez said that a ‘heartfelt apology’ could have prevented it reaching this point, adding ‘this didn’t have to be like this,’ reports The Press Democrat.
Her defense attorney, Charles Dresow, said today: ‘The judge obviously balanced the factors that she saw very carefully and ultimately, in our system, the judge is the determiner of what a conviction is worth punishment-wise.’
Sorensen drove to the police station to report the couple’s actions and press charges before uploading two viral videos, which gained her more than 80,000 followers.
Around a week after filing her false police report, she posted the now-deleted clips, on December 13 in which she detailed claims that she avoided the so-called kidnapping attempt.
They racked up more than 4.5 million views on her Instagram page and she drew even more attention by going on a local news program to repeat her account.
In her initial videos, Sorenson sat in her car as she relayed the claims about Sadie and Eddie Martinez, who have five children between them and two grandchildren.
She said: ‘My children were the targets of attempted kidnap which is such a weird thing to even vocalize but it happened and I want to share that story with you in an effort to raise awareness to what signs to look for and to encourage parents to be more aware of their surroundings and what is going on around them.
Officers contacted Mrs Martinez on Facebook to say she and her husband should come to the station
‘I think right now that we are so distracted with everything that’s going on in the world that we are have our guard up so much about masks and wanting to keep out children safe that way that we’re forgetting the most important way to keep them safe and that is with us.’
Mr and Mrs Martinez came forward to Petaluma police and they were cleared of any wrongdoing after the report was found to be false thanks to store footage and an investigation was launched into the momfluencer.
The Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office then charged her with three misdemeanor accounts of making a false report of a crime in May 2021- one she made to a police dispatcher and a police officer on December 7 and another with a detective a week later.
A jury found her guilty of the third count in April after deliberating for a day.
District Attorney Rodriguez said at the time: ‘This verdict will enable us to hold Ms. Sorensen accountable for her crime, while at the same time helping to exonerate the couple that was falsely accused of having attempted to kidnap two young children.
‘The case is also important in that it illustrates the importance of using social media responsibly.’
Mrs Martinez, who own a small business making balloon arches for parties, was satisfied with the verdict and said she believed ‘justice was served’.
‘I feel like it’s a step in the right direction for my family. I’m grateful for the support,’ she told Elle magazine.
The couple (pictured in CCTV footage released by police), who have five children between them and two grandchildren, were quickly cleared of any wrongdoing
The alleged incident took place in the parking lot of this Michael’s in Petaluma
She found out about the incident when her daughter showed her a community post from Petaluma police with a blurry screenshot of the couple and asked: ‘Mom, is this you?’
Officers then contacted her on Facebook to say she and her husband should come to the station.
Mr Martinez, a UPS delivery driver, said: ‘For Sadie and me, it was game on. We needed to defend ourselves.’
They told investigators their side of the story and families who he delivers to called the police department to vouch for him.
‘Katie should have probably done a little bit of homework and picked different characters for her story.’
The police quickly closed the investigation on December 17 after finding ‘no evidence or witnesses corroborating’ Sorensen’s account and began to look into the momfluencer’s false report.
Mrs Martinez believes she and her husband were targeted because of their skin color and hoped Sorensen would be charged with a hate crime.
She added: ‘But that’s very hard to prove,’ she says, ‘so we had to be content with what we could get.
‘Jail won’t fix the systems that allow the Katies of the world to do these things in the first place,’ she says. ‘She’s just a little piece of a big puzzle.’
The influencer pictured here with one of her sons
According to the police statement, Sorenson said she noted the suspicious behavior of a man and woman as they followed her and her children around the store and made comments about their appearance.
She told police they followed her out to her car and lingered by the stroller as she placed her kids back inside the vehicle.
Police said Sorenson had not wanted to have anyone arrested when she filed the report but ‘wanted to draw attention to the concerning behavior exhibited by the couple’.
In an interview with KTVU after she posted the videos, however, Sorenson relayed further claims about Sadie and Eddie Martinez.
‘I heard them talking about the features of my children, but I was totally paralyzed with fear, I just couldn’t bring myself to say anything,’ she said.
She claimed that she had spotted the man looking at her in the parking lot before she went inside and that the couple had stood behind her in the checkout but then followed her outside without buying anything.
She noted that when she reached her car, a white van was parked alongside her, which she thought was strange given how far from the store she was.
Sorenson also claimed that the couple took two steps forward and then two steps back as the watched her load her children into the car.
‘Very awkward. There is no other explanation to why they would do that other than they were building up the courage’ she alleged.
Erika Margarita Mitchell, a family member of the couple, posted to Facebook praising prosecutors for charging Sorensen for the case
Sorenson told the station that the man had reached out and grabbed the stroller but that another man walked past at the time and she began to scream for help.
She claimed the couple fled the scene in a car, but a third man emerged quickly from the white van. She said he acted like he was trying to help her before fleeing himself.
‘I saw these people, they didn’t look necessarily clean cut,’ Sorenson told KTVU.
‘I felt uncomfortable around them, and instead of making them uncomfortable with my discomfort, I chose to remain in my discomfort.’
Sorenson told Buzzfeed that she felt very overwhelmed to the reaction to the videos.
She said that she wanted those sending her negative comments to note that she was ‘faced with a traumatic experience, it is impossible to function at full capacity’.
Speaking at a press conference at the time, Mrs Martinez said: ‘I couldn’t believe it. It’s like we’re literally guilty of being brown while shopping.’
And her daughter Esaia told BuzzFeed News: ‘This isn’t the first racist injustice to occur in Petaluma by a long shot, but we are definitely grateful that in this case the truth was rightfully pursued.’
Erika Margarita Mitchell, a family member of the couple, posted to Facebook praising prosecutors for charging Sorensen at the time.
She said: ‘Great news for us all but mostly for my cousin, Sadie Vega-Martinez and her husband Eddie. They were falsely accused by this ‘influencer’ of trying to kidnap her kids at a local Michaels store,’ Mitchell wrote.
‘A major allegation! She obviously didn’t know who she was messing with in my cousin. Prima, I’m so glad you persisted!’
Mitchell added: ‘There absolutely need to be consequences for attention seeking ‘influencers’ that make up drama for likes and views on social.
‘Prosecute Katie is now Convict Katie. Can you imagine this happening to YOU? It totally could. And it’s unreal.’
DailyMail
