A social media influencer who went viral for a 2020 Instagram video falsely claiming a couple tried to kidnap her children at a crafts store in Northern California has been sentenced to jail, prosecutors announced Thursday.
Kathleen "Katie" Sorensen, 30, was sentenced to 90 days in jail, 60 of which could be served on a work-release program, the Sonoma County district attorney's office said. Sorensen was convicted in April for knowingly making a false report of a crime.
Prosecutors say that on December 7, 2020, Sorensen called the Petaluma Police Department claiming that a couple tried to kidnap her two young children at a Michaels craft store. A week later, she posted a video about the incident on Instagram, which went viral, and she repeated the claims on a local news program.
A social media influencer and mom from the North Bay who went viral for a 2020 Instagram video falsely claiming a couple tried to kidnap her children has been sentenced to jail, prosecutors said. https://t.co/pSPtmP87MH
— CBS News Bay Area (@KPIXtv) June 29, 2023
"Ms. Sorensen's report was determined to be false and resoundingly contradicted by the accused couple as well as store video that was obtained," prosecutors said.
CBS Bay Area reported that before being charged, Sorensen had enjoyed a modest following on her @motherhoodessentials Instagram account. Her videos on the alleged kidnapping attempt were viewed more than 4 million times and gained her tens of thousands of new followers. The videos have since been deleted.
Sadie Vega-Martinez, who was falsely accused by Sorensen along with her husband Eddie Martinez, told Elle magazine in April she was happy Sorensen had been convicted.
"After [Sorensen] avoided accountability for years, and then hearing she was found guilty and walked out in handcuffs... yes, justice was served," Vega-Martinez told Elle.
Along with jail time, the judge ordered Sorensen to 12 months of probation "during which time she was ordered to have no social media presence, submit to warrantless search and seizure, to include her electronic devices, complete a 4-hour implicit bias training, as well as various fines and fees."
Sorensen was remanded into custody following the hearing to begin serving her sentence, prosecutors said.
"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 statement. "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."