‘Mom influencer’ charged after claiming Latino couple tried to kidnap her children

An parenting influencer has been charged with two misdemeanors after claiming that a Latino couple attempted to kidnap her two children.

Katie Sorensen, from Sonoma in California, publically announced in December last year that the pair had followed her into a Michael’s craft store in the city of Petaluma and that they “made comments concerning the appearance of the children”.

The town’s police department said at the time that the couple were also alleged to have “followed the woman to her car, where the couple lingered near the stroller as the woman placed her children in the vehicle”.

Sorensen also shared two videos about the alleged ordeal to Instagram, in which she told her more than 72,000 followers that she had been the victim of an “attempted kidnap” a week before.

The clips reportedly garnered more than 4.5 million views but they have since been deleted. Her account is now private.

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The couple in question were later identified by The Argus-Courier as Sadie and Eddie Martinez, who said they had been shopping for Christmas decorations at the time of the incident.

They said that they believed the allegations were a case of racial profiling because they are Latino.

“Am I shocked? No. But will we stand for it? Hell no. So today, I stand in front of everybody in a fight to prosecute Katie,” Sadie said in December.

Petaluma Police Department  issued a press release the same month revealing that their investigation had “produced no evidence or witnesses corroborating the account provided” by Sorensen and that the case was closed.

In an article published by The Argus-Courier on Thursday, Sonoma County prosecutors confirmed that Sorensen had been charged with providing false information to officers. 

She is next due to appear in court on May 13.