Updated May 17, 2021.

Katie Sorensen received an onslaught of support from Instagram this week after she took to the platform to share a horrifying story. In a post that launched herself into the social media spotlight, the Instagramer (who started the week off with 6K followers) Sorensen claimed that two people had attempted to kidnap her children while they were at a local Michaels craft store. Users were quick to offer the mother of two support and comfort but it has now all turned sour with skepticism after the local police department in the Northern California city of Petaluma spoke out about her viral videos.

Loading the player...

Sorensen is the mom behind the Instagram account, @motherhoodessentials, who catapulted herself into the pendulum swing of social media attention after claiming her children survived an attempted kidnapping.

According to Social Blade, at the time of her original post about the kidnapping, Sorensen had 6K followers. Now, the mom has 81.6k followers and a private account. Why so private? Well according to the police, Sorensen told her Instagram followers a story that included different information that they were not made aware of in her initial report. Now the police say that they do not currently have enough information to bring a case.

In the videos posted to her account, Sorensen alleged that her two children had been the victims of an attempted kidnapping at last week. In her posts, Sorensen said that she felt uncomfortable about coming forth with the incident but wanted to share her experience for the sake of other parents.

“I think right now we are so distracted by everything that is going on in the world that we kind of have our guards up about masks and wanting to keep our children safe that way that we are forgetting the most important way to keep them safe, and that is with us and to not have them taken,” Sorensen said.

In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Sorensen said that she wanted parents to “feel empowered to trust their gut instinct.” “I posted it simply to raise awareness,” she told the outlet.

The Petaluma Police Department said in a statement about the incident that Sorensen initially reported the incident on Dec. 7 and claimed that she had been “followed inside the store” by a man and woman who had “made comments concerning the appearance of [her] children.”

“The couple was said to have followed the woman to her car, where the couple lingered near the stroller as the woman placed her children in the vehicle,” police stated.

“I heard them talking about the features of my children, but I was totally paralyzed with fear,” Sorensen told KTVU. “I just couldn’t bring myself to say anything.”

“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.”

Soon after posting the video, Sorensen went viral on Instagram and the post was viewed over 2 million times.

According to Sorensen, her “story not only gained traction among worried moms online, but it hit home in Petaluma, the home of Polly Klaas, a 12-year-old girl who was abducted from her home and murdered in 1993. Marc Klaas, Polly’s father, who has since become a world-renowned child safety advocate, even commented on the case for KTVU’s nightly news broadcast on Monday night.”

Sorensen now faces two misdemeanor counts for what turned out to be false claims.

Sorenson claimed that Eduardo and Sadie Martine attempted to kidnap her two children. Now, the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office has now charged for false claims She currently is looking at a count of giving false information to a police officer and another for giving false information to a police dispatcher. The counts each could see her face a maximum penalty of six months in jail.

Erika Margarita Mitchell, a family member of Eduardo and Sadie Martine, posted about the charges on Facebook and praised prosecutors for holding Sorenson accountable.

Great news for us all but mostly for my cousin, Sadie Vega-Martinez and her husband Eddie. They were falsely accused by…

Posted by Erika Margarita Mitchell on Thursday, April 29, 2021

“Great news for us all but mostly for my cousin, Sadie Vega-Martinez and her husband Eddie. They were falsely accused by this ‘influencer’ of trying to kidnap her kids at a local Michaels store,” she wrote. “A major allegation! She obviously didn’t know who she was messing with in my cousin. Prima, I’m so glad you persisted!”