(RightWing.org) – Words are powerful tools when properly used but can become horrendous weapons when they’re not. Such was the case of a mother who faked the kidnapping of her children — at the expense of an innocent couple. Here’s what happened.
On December 7, 2020, a Sonoma County, California, mother named Kathleen Sorensen called the local police to report that a couple had attempted to kidnap her young children as she exited a Michaels arts and crafts store. A few days later, she posted a couple of videos recounting the incident on her since-deleted Instagram account.
Sorensen told viewers that her children were the “target” of would-be kidnappers, something she said was “a weird thing to even vocalize.” She explained that a man and a woman followed her into the parking lot, took “two steps forward [and] two steps back,” and attempted to grab her stroller.
Katie Sorensen says strangers tried to kidnap her kids outside the Petaluma @MichaelsStores after following them around inside. Her @instagram video (partial here) has hit 2M views. @petaluma_police investigating. She & @PollyDad speak out to @KTVU 5:15, 6:15, 7:30 p.m. pic.twitter.com/cG0wnm2JgQ
— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) December 15, 2020
One of the clips received more than four million views before she deleted it, but not before it captured the attention of officers from the Petaluma Police Department since she discussed details not reported during her initial contact with officers.
Investigators reached out to Sorensen, and she identified the couple who attempted to kidnap her children as Sadie and Eddie Martinez. However, the couple contradicted her claim, as did surveillance video obtained from the store. Sadie Martinez told The Press Democrat at the time that she couldn’t believe what was happening to them, adding that she felt they were “literally guilty of being brown while shopping.”
On April 27, a jury convicted Sorensen of one count of making a false police report after deliberating for about a day. District Attorney Rodriguez stated that the verdict allowed his office to hold Sorensen accountable for her crimes. He also noted that it helped “exonerate” the couple falsely accused of attempting to kidnap her children.
California social media influencer mom gets 90 days in jail for faking kidnapping of children https://t.co/NF2tePhgRU
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 30, 2023
Then, on June 29, Superior Court Judge Laura Passaglia sentenced the former social media influencer to 90 days in jail, 60 of them to be served on work release. She also ordered a year of informal probation, barred her from using social media, mandated completion of a four-hour implicit bias course, and subjected her to warrantless searches for the term of her probation. Sorensen will also have to pay various fines and costs.
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