Bay Area 'mom influencer' whose accusations sparked QAnon panic faces trial

[Demovictory9]

not only did she lie, she tried to get this couple charged based on that lie


Bay Area 'mom influencer' whose accusations sparked QAnon panic faces trial



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“My children were the target of attempted kidnap,” says Sorensen, sitting in her car. “Which is such a weird thing to even vocalize, but it happened and I want to share that story with you.”

She claimed on Dec. 7, 2020, she took her two small children to the Michaels craft store in Petaluma. While in the store, she alleged a man and woman began to follow her, “talking about the features of my children.” Sorensen said the couple didn’t buy anything, but followed her out to the parking lot. She accused them of taking “two steps forward, two steps back” before lunging for her stroller. Sorensen said she called for help, talked to the police and then decided to share her story on social media to warn other parents.

“I saw these people. They didn’t look necessarily clean-cut,” she said on KTVU. “I felt uncomfortable around them."

The videos had more than 4 million views before they were deleted, and almost overnight she went from 6,000 Instagram followers to over 80,000.

But in short order, Petaluma police cleared the couple, Sadie and Eddie Martinez, of any wrongdoing. The Petaluma Police Department issued a statement indicating Sorensen’s story had “inconsistencies.”

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Although Sorensen said in her initial video that she wasn’t interested in pressing charges, police said in a follow-up interview she did want the Martinezes prosecuted for attempted kidnapping. She currently faces three misdemeanor charges of making a false report to police; if convicted, she could be sentenced to six months in jail or a fine of up to $1,000, or both, for each count.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Katie-Sorensen-kidnap-accusations-trial-17078111.php

[canetoad]

1. She seems lovely

https://meaww.com/who-katie-sorensen-california-influencer-viral-accused-latino-couple-kidnapping-attempt-faces-jail

According to another report, Sorensen said in her video that along with discussing the "features" of her children, one of them tried to "reach out, as if to grab the stroller" at one point. Sorensen later added she wanted to do more but just froze at the moment. “I saw these people, they didn't look necessarily clean-cut,” she told KTVU. “I felt uncomfortable around them, and instead of making them uncomfortable with my discomfort, I chose to remain in my discomfort.”

[struggle4progress]

2. The Karen who cried kidnapping

BY ROSE MINUTAGLIO
APR 4, 2022

... As they wove through aisles of Puffy paints, jars of glitter, and rainbow-colored yarn, Sadie didn’t notice the blonde-haired, blue-eyed mom pushing a double stroller and eyeing her and Eddie suspiciously. “We never would have even known she existed,” Sadie tells me. “No encounter, nothing” ...

... “I’m married to a UPS man who’s like Norm from Cheers—everybody knows him,” Sadie says. “Katie should have probably done a little bit of homework and picked different characters for her story” ...

... Several months later, Sorensen was charged with three misdemeanor counts of giving false reports to police ...

... Child trafficking does happen in the U.S., and it’s a horrific crime, but ... mostly impacts children who are economically and socially vulnerable ... Rather than being ripped from their beds in the dead of night, most young people are trafficked by lovers or parents for money or drugs.

Kidnapping also happens, but ... of the 29,782 missing children cases .. in 2020, only 79 were “non-family abductions” ...

https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a39589245/the-karen-who-cried-kidnapping/