Influencer Jailed 90 Days for False Kidnapping Claim

Katie Sorensen, a white California “mom influencer,” was sentenced to 90 days in prison for making up a narrative about a Latino couple kidnapping her children. In December 2020, she falsely claimed on social media that the couple tried to abduct her two children in a Michaels craft store parking lot in Petaluma, near San Francisco.

The accused pair was exonerated by police, and the district attorney’s office deemed Sorensen’s claim fraudulent, refuted by both the couple and store CCTV footage. Judge Laura Passaglia sentenced Sorensen to 90 days in prison, 60 of which were work-released. She was arrested soon after sentencing.

Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez said the penalty was reasonable and hoped it will help the wrongly accused couple. In her social media video, Sorensen said the pair followed her into the store, made comments about her children’s looks, and made her feel awkward. She said they followed her to her car after shopping and hovered around her children’s stroller.

The pair rejected these charges and said they bought Christmas decorations. Sorensen was acquitted of two of three misdemeanor counts of filing a false report of a crime in 2021. She also served a year on informal probation. The district attorney’s office requires her to undergo unwarranted search and seizure, a four-hour implicit bias training, and no social media use.