Influencer who detailed alleged kidnapping attempt on Instagram charged with giving false information to police
CBSN
A so-called Instagram influencer told her followers a harrowing story about how she stopped a kidnapping in the parking lot of a Michaels craft store – but authorities say no crime took place. Now, the mom of two has now been charged with giving false information to a police officer and giving false information to a police dispatcher.
Katie Sorensen first went to police December 7, telling them a man and a woman followed her into the store and around inside as she shopped and commented on her two children's appearance, according to a news release from the Petaluma Police Department. "She said they followed her out to her car, loitered suspiciously, and then left when noticed by another individual nearby," the release states.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.