A white California "mom influencer" was convicted of fabricating a story about a Latino couple trying to kidnap her children outside of a store.
Katie Sorensen, 31, was found guilty of one count of making a false report of a crime, the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office said on Thursday. She was taken into custody on $100,000 bail.
Sorensen, of Sonoma, posted a video in December 2020 alleging that a man and woman tried to kidnap her two children in the parking lot of a Michaels craft store in Petaluma, about 40 miles north of San Francisco.
The man and woman were identified by local media outlets as Sadie and Eddie Martinez. Authorities cleared them of any wrongdoing and said that the investigation into Sorensen's claims "produced no evidence" to support her allegations.
The district attorney's office said Thursday that Sorensen's report to police "was determined to be false and was resoundingly contradicted by the accused couple as well as store video that was obtained."
In Sorensen's social media video, she alleged that the couple had followed her into the store, trailed her as she shopped with her children in a stroller and made comments about her children's appearance.
Sorensen, who described herself on social media as a "mom influencer," said the couple gave her the "heebie-jeebies" and "weren’t clean-cut individuals."
She said she did not say anything to them because she was "paralyzed with fear." In the video, she further alleged that they followed her out of...
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