Kathleen "Katie" Sorensen, a white woman from California who presented herself as a "mom influencer" on social media, has been sentenced to three months in prison after falsely accusing a Latino couple of attempting to abduct her children.
A jury in Sonoma County found Sorensen, aged 30, guilty in April of knowingly making a false report of a crime.
The case revolved around a social media post she published in December 2020, where she claimed that a man and a woman had tried to steal her two children in the parking lot of a Michaels craft store located approximately 40 miles (65km) outside of San Francisco.
Authorities thoroughly examined the case and determined that both the couple accused by Sorensen and the surveillance video from the store strongly contradicted the narrative she had provided.
As a result, Judge Laura Passaglia imposed a 90-day prison sentence on Sorensen, with the possibility of serving two months through a work release program, as stated by the local district attorney's office in a released statement.
In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Laura Passaglia issued several other directives to Sorensen.
These included instructing her to refrain from engaging in any social media activity, consenting to having her electronic devices searched and confiscated without a warrant, undergoing four hours of implicit bias training, and paying various fines and fees.
Carla Rodriguez, the District Attorney, expressed satisfaction with the verdict and the subsequent prison sentence, stating that it holds Sorensen accountable for her false accusations and the crime she committed.
"Our hope is that this measure ... will help provide some closure to the couple that was falsely accused of having attempted to kidnap two young children," Rodriguez added.
As of now, Sorensen's defense attorney, Charles Dresrow, was unavailable for comment.
However, in a previous statement to Good Morning America, Dresrow had asserted that his client "misperceived and misunderstood a series of random events, which were occurring around her, and made an honest report to the police."
Before becoming embroiled in this case, which highlighted the unfounded criminal suspicions that racial minorities can face in the United States, Sorensen shared beauty and motherhood tips on social media.
However, her life took a drastic turn when she visited a Michaels store on December 7, 2020, and subsequently reported to the police that a couple had attempted to abduct her children, who were with her at the time.
"I don't think she had any understanding of how this would spread and the impact it would cause," Dresrow said.
Several days later, Sorensen posted a video on social media that presented a more detailed version of the events she claimed took place at the store, differing from the account she initially provided to investigators.
The video showed Sorensen describing how the couple had trailed her into the store, commented on her children's appearances and gave her the "heebie-jeebies" because they were not "clean-cut individuals", as NBCNews.com reported.
According to NBCNews.com, Sorensen asserted that the accused couple had followed her out of the store and lingered nearby as she placed her children in her car before leaving. She described the encounter as leaving her "paralyzed with fear" to the extent that she was unable to speak to the couple.
The situation only came to an end when she called out for assistance, prompting the couple to flee.
"There were significant additional details that were included in her ... video that had not been disclosed to ... police," the statement from Rodriguez said. "Ms. Sorensen also went on a local news program repeating her account."
The couple involved in the incident, Sadie and Eddie Martinez, spoke to the Petaluma Argus-Courier newspaper and refuted Sorensen's claims.
They explained that they had visited Michaels that day solely to purchase Christmas decorations.
After seeing a photo released by the police following Sorensen's report, the couple recognized themselves and came forward to deny the allegations, asserting that they were targeted based on racial profiling, The Guardian reported.
"She wanted a strong following [online]; she was looking for, you know, content for her name and her income and at our expense," Sadie Martinez said to Good Morning America in response to Sorensen's video, which has been viewed more than 4m times.
Sorensen was charged by prosecutors with three misdemeanor counts of making a false report of a crime.
However, jurors acquitted her of two of the counts, leaving her facing a maximum of six months in relation to the charge for which she was found guilty.
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