Prosecutors file recommended sentence for Katie Sorensen, ex-Sonoma County ‘mom influencer’ guilty in kidnapping hoax

Prosecutors are recommending a former Sonoma woman be sentenced to 180 days in jail for filing a false report of attempted kidnapping in December 2020, but they are also asking the sentencing judge to suspend half of that jail time as long as the woman fulfills certain conditions.

These conditions are laid out in a sentencing brief the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office filed Tuesday against Katie Sorensen, who is expected to be sentenced June 29 after being convicted in her misdemeanor case, which garnered national attention.

Sorensen’s attorney, Charles Dresow, declined to comment on the recommended sentencing.

“I will look forward to addressing the government’s request at the sentencing hearing,” he said.

A video of Sorensen recounting her unproven claims that a Petaluma couple tried to kidnap her children while they were all at a Michaels store on North McDowell Boulevard Dec. 7, 2020 went viral after she posted it on Instagram.

She claimed the couple followed her through the store before trying to grab her son’s stroller in the parking lot. She called a dispatcher minutes after leaving the store and was interviewed by a Petaluma police officer.

The Instagram video emerged a week later. During an interview with Petaluma police shortly after the alleged incident, Sorensen identified two people who appeared in a surveillance photo presented to her by investigators as the couple that she said tried to take her kids.

The people were later identified as a Petaluma couple, Sadie and Eddie Martinez, and investigators ultimately concluded that they did nothing wrong as the attempted kidnapping never happened.

Terms of a suspended sentence

On April 26, a jury convicted Sorensen of one count of filing a false police report but acquitted her of two others related to alleged false statements she made in interviews with the dispatcher and officer.

Each count carried a maximum sentence of 180 days in jail or under work release.

It will be up to a judge to choose Sorensen’s sentence.

According to the district attorney’s recommendation, 90 days would be suspended if Sorensen completes a 12-month conditional release.

Its terms include that she:

• Have no contact with Sadie and Eddie Martinez.
• Not be allowed to use social media.
• Submit to warrantless searches and seizures at any time of the day or night.
• Provide passwords to her electronic devices upon request by law enforcement.
• Complete implicit bias training and counseling sessions that explore the causative factors associated with this crime.

Sorensen would need to stay in Sonoma County if a judge grants her work release instead of jail time for the 90 days she is supposed to be in custody.

Afterward, if she returns home to Montana, the court would have authority to order her to come back to Sonoma County for periodic reviews during the remainder of the 12-month period.

Sonoma County officials would need to ask authorities in Montana to conduct searches of Sorensen’s electronic devices.

Prosecutors maintain Sorensen was an “influencer” attempting to financially benefit from her social media content.

Investigators say her video included details that weren’t presented during her first interview with law enforcement, including that someone tried to grab her son’s stroller.

During her trial, Sorensen testified that she misinterpreted the events of Dec. 7. Prosecutors, though, continue to balk at that explanation.

"Ms. Sorensen’s claim of ‘misinterpreting’ the events of the day in question is preposterous; and the claim was resoundingly rejected by the jury,“ Deputy District Attorney Robert Waner wrote in the sentencing brief.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi