Katie Sorensen, a former Sonoma resident whose Instagram video went viral in December 2020 after she falsely claimed a Petaluma couple tried to kidnap her children at a local Michaels, has been found guilty of one count of making a false report of a crime.
Sonoma County Superior Court jurors, who began their deliberations in Santa Rosa Tuesday afternoon and then resumed them Wednesday morning, rendered their verdict after nearly five hours of deliberations.
Sorensen had been charged with three misdemeanor counts of making a false report of a crime. Jurors acquitted her of the two other counts.
She could face as much as six months in jail when she returns to court for sentencing. Following the verdict, Wednesday, she was taken from the courtroom in handcuffs.
The jury of eight men and four women reached their verdict after deliberating about three hours Wednesday. They received the case around 3 p.m. Tuesday and they went home 90 minutes later.
Their decision follows three days of testimony overseen by Judge Laura Passaglia.
On Dec. 7, 2020, Sorensen told Petaluma police a couple ‒ later identified as Eddie and Sadie Martinez‒ tried to kidnap her children at the Michaels store on North McDowell Boulevard.
She contacted dispatchers 15 minutes after leaving Michaels and then was interviewed...
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