0:02

On the morning of December eight, the mom Facebook

0:05

groups and messaging boards in Pataluma,

0:07

California, right outside of Sonoma

0:10

and Napo Wine Country, started

0:12

blowing the hell up. There

0:19

were rumors of an attempted kidnapping

0:21

of two small children in the parking lot

0:23

of a local shopping center. Details

0:25

were scarce, moms were panicked,

0:27

and news reports were still coming in. Of

0:30

course, local mothers were terrified because kidnapping

0:33

is one of those mom fears that starts the

0:35

second you see those two little lines on a

0:37

pregnancy test. All

0:39

of the moms were texting each other trying to piece

0:41

it together. Who was the mom, who were

0:44

the kids, who were these potential kidnappers?

0:46

And why did all of this go down in

0:48

a Michael's craft store parking lot.

0:51

The story slowly started to come together. These

0:54

accusations were made by a woman named

0:56

Katie Sorenson. She's a

0:58

content creator and aspiring

1:00

mom influencer who didn't

1:02

just report this attempted kidnapping

1:04

to the police, but broadcast

1:07

it in real time to all of her Instagram

1:09

followers Monday of this

1:11

week. My children were the targets

1:14

of attempted kidnap um,

1:17

which is such a weird thing to even vocalize,

1:20

but she eventually

1:23

got about four point five million

1:26

views on that video overnight.

1:30

She went from about six thousand Instagram

1:32

followers to eighty thou That

1:36

took her from micro micro nano

1:38

influencer to the realm of

1:41

pretty powerful mom influencer.

1:45

But the police found no evidence

1:48

that Katie Surenson's children had been potentially

1:50

kidnapped. In fact, the Latino couple

1:53

that Katie accused of trying to

1:55

kidnap her children had no idea

1:58

that they had even been accused at all

2:00

on social media. Pedalouma

2:03

police pretty quickly cleared the couple, Sadie

2:06

and Eddie Martinez, of any wrongdoing.

2:09

The Pedaluma Police also issued a statement

2:11

indicating that Katie Surrensen's story

2:14

about this attempted kidnapping had

2:17

quote inconsistencies.

2:20

Now, that was back in December, and

2:22

a couple of weeks ago, my phone

2:24

started blowing up text messages

2:27

d ms all the ways that you

2:29

guys talked to me. Because Katie Surrenson

2:32

had been charged with two counts of

2:34

making false reports, once

2:36

to a police dispatcher and once to a

2:38

police officer. Each of these

2:40

charges has a maximum penalty of

2:43

six months in jail. Now,

2:47

you might remember that we mentioned Katie Surrenson

2:49

on the podcast when all of this was going

2:51

down. We were talking about the lengths

2:54

that some influencers would go to in

2:56

order to get attention, in order

2:58

to grow an audience. I don't

3:00

know what Katie Sorenson's motivations

3:02

were. I don't know if she was genuinely

3:05

afraid for her children's lives, but all

3:07

of this is worth talking about. And

3:10

when the news broke that Katie had been charged, all

3:12

of you wanted to talk to me about it. It felt

3:14

so good. It made me so happy because I missed

3:17

talking about this so much. It's not the

3:19

same trying to talk to my husband about it at night, where

3:21

I'm like, oh my god. Then he's just like, I don't know who these

3:24

people are and I do not care. So

3:28

let's get into this story. This right here

3:30

is a bonus episode. It's not going to sound as pretty

3:32

as the other episodes because I had to beg to make

3:35

it because we don't get a budget until we get

3:37

a season two. I have been told that

3:39

there will be a season two, and I will keep saying

3:41

it over and over again. To make sure

3:43

that it happens. So just bear with

3:45

me if this episode does not sound as beautiful as

3:47

the other episodes, because at least we're here

3:50

and we're doing this, and that's half the battle.

3:52

My friends. Today we are going to talk

3:54

about what the hell happened

3:57

in pedal Uma. I'm Joe

3:59

Piazza, and this

4:01

right here is under the influence.

4:12

The second that I saw this story

4:15

about the Pedaluma mom influencer, I

4:18

called you because you have carved out a niche

4:20

for yourself. You are a mom influencing journalistic

4:24

expert. You've written so many articles

4:26

this year, but you're also, like

4:28

me, fascinated by this world and

4:31

probably unhealthy way totally.

4:34

That is Sarah Peterson. When we recorded

4:37

this episode, clinics had just gotten her second COVID

4:39

vaccine and she was feeling like complete

4:42

shit, like she felt like she got knocked

4:44

over by a truck. And I still called her and was

4:46

like, hey, can you talk about mom influencers

4:48

with me? And she didn't return

4:51

my call. That's

4:53

not to say that Sarah Peterson, who we

4:55

are talking to right now, is not amazing.

4:58

Sarah and I became friends on the internet

5:00

while I was reporting under the influence. I

5:02

actually made a lot of wonderful and incredible

5:05

new friends on the Internet while making this podcast,

5:08

and I hope that one day we can have some kind

5:10

of raging kegger where I

5:12

get to meet all of you in person hold

5:15

me to that. People hold me to that.

5:18

But for now I can only talk on the phone, which is why I called

5:20

Sarah. Sarah has been reporting on mom

5:22

influencers for more than a year now, and

5:24

she actually just landed a book deal with

5:26

Beacon Press for a whole goddamn

5:29

book about mom influencers. She

5:31

knows her ship and I wanted her to

5:33

go through the basics of this Pedaluma

5:36

mom influencer attempted kidnapping

5:38

case about exactly what happened

5:41

in December in the parking lot of

5:43

a Michael's craft store. Can

5:46

you give me a rundown because I think this story is confusing,

5:49

Um what exactly happened in

5:51

Pedaluma in December. So

5:53

in December, Katie Sorensen

5:56

the same day, I believe, made

5:59

a video for on her car. I think

6:01

in the parking lot of Michael's where everything went down.

6:03

The fact that this happened in the parking

6:06

lot of a Michael's Michael's Draft

6:08

store. It reminds me of how

6:11

in the first season of Cereal with

6:13

add no On everything went down in

6:15

the best Buy parking lot. So

6:17

true, so true. Michael's

6:19

parking lot situation is like

6:22

the Cereal best Buy under

6:25

the influence. I just want to say that, because you know, we're

6:28

just like Cereal. You're the same thing.

6:31

There's really no difference millions of down months.

6:35

So she goes to

6:38

get a few things at Michael's with her two

6:40

kids. She makes a big point, I don't know why,

6:42

of saying that she parked far away because

6:44

she's a double stroller and doesn't want

6:46

to inconvenience people with her double stroller, and

6:49

then says definitively twice

6:51

that she her kids were the

6:54

target of an attempted kidnapping.

6:56

She doesn't say, something weird happened. They

6:58

might have been victims of a target

7:01

targeted kidnapping. She says, definitively,

7:04

they were targets of

7:06

attempted kidnapping. But let's

7:08

talk about the videos. Because she's talking into the

7:10

camera. It's like selfie mode, right,

7:13

and she looks genuinely

7:16

scared, But she looks like she

7:18

she also looks good by the way, Yeah yeah,

7:20

yeah, yeah. Her skin is really glowy,

7:23

it is hers.

7:26

Her hair is smoothed. Yeah, she's got a cute

7:28

little hat. Okay, so she posts this video.

7:30

What else does she say in the video because she identifies

7:33

these people pretty specifically. Yeah,

7:36

so hold on, I have a quote

7:38

that really sort of floored

7:40

me. This part of the video. You can't

7:43

find anymore, but somebody

7:45

did. Um it's an NBC news

7:47

article. And she says in the

7:49

video that the man was

7:51

accompanied by a woman and they gave her the quote

7:54

heb gbs and then she

7:56

goes on to say, I didn't feel good,

7:58

but I thought I was judging a book by its

8:00

cover. They were not kind.

8:02

That sounds bad, but they weren't clean

8:05

cut individuals, M so

8:10

and so it's like, that's clear. This is a This is a Latino

8:13

couple. Yes, um in

8:15

Pedaluma, California, where I used to spend

8:18

a lot of time. Nick and I even thought about moving to

8:20

Pedaluma before I decided

8:22

that, you know, I need to be in Philadelphia

8:24

where people just say fun you to your

8:26

face, because totally nice

8:29

thing about California is that people

8:31

are really nasty behind your back. This

8:34

happened in Philadelphia. If someone thought someone

8:36

were threatening their kids, they would open the car door and be like, the

8:38

funk away from my kids, when the funk up right

8:42

right? Whereas I feel like this just feels

8:44

sneaky just going on Instagram

8:47

and saying this about this couple,

8:49

and then the couple has no idea that it's even happening.

8:51

They find out later, if I'm not later,

8:54

that they have been accused of kidnapping

8:56

this one's child from children,

8:58

many children. So tell me how that went down.

9:01

So there was a screenshot,

9:04

um, and I think the police released the

9:06

screenshot and the

9:09

couple's daughter saw it

9:11

and said, mom, I think this is you. And

9:15

so they were super freaked out because

9:17

they were like targeted on like hashtag

9:20

Save the Children, which is a hashtag

9:22

about you know, child trafficking

9:25

and goes into Q and on stuff,

9:28

and they, you

9:31

know, immediately declared

9:34

their innocence and ultimately,

9:37

so the police looked into everything, the charges

9:40

were dropped. They found no evidence to corroborate

9:42

Katie Surrensen's story, and

9:45

just recently, UM

9:48

Katie Surrensen was charged with two misdemeanors.

9:51

Two counts of making false reports, and

9:53

she did. She reported this to the police, yes,

9:56

twice, once to a

9:58

dispatcher and once to an offer sir um.

10:01

But she did that at the same time as she was

10:03

broadcasting this to her Instagram

10:05

account right her accusations.

10:09

They went viral. They were, according

10:12

to some reports, more than four

10:14

point five million. Yeah.

10:18

Um, that's scary, super

10:20

scary. So the couple, you

10:23

know, we're horrified by this, and said they

10:25

were looking for I think a Nativity scene

10:27

for their grandkids. I mean, I

10:30

know the

10:34

story, Like the details of the story just

10:36

blow me away. Key at the time

10:39

was wearing a Black Lives Matter sweatshirt, which

10:41

I think is just a really interesting detail. And

10:44

she has become really active in

10:47

race relations um since

10:49

this has happened. She did a press conference

10:51

basically talking about this and said

10:54

that she was targeted for shopping while being

10:56

brown. And she says she's scared to go back

10:58

to Michael's because she thinks, you know, there's

11:00

like a target on her back. Everyone should be

11:02

able to go to Michael's get

11:05

those scrapbook little like fluffy

11:08

blue boots for the baby books. I'm

11:10

not mocking Michael's fucking love on Michael's.

11:12

I mean, it's very soothing. Michael's

11:21

is soothing. In fact, maybe I'll go to Michael's

11:23

right now while we take a quick ad break. When we

11:25

come back, Sarah and I are going to talk way

11:28

more about this case and why

11:30

it seems to be fueled by a very

11:32

disturbing attention economy.

11:35

Be right back the

11:44

pedal and my mom Facebook pages

11:46

blew up. Mom Facebook pages all over the country

11:48

blew up when this story broke, and

11:51

people, I don't want to speculate too

11:53

much, but people did begin

11:55

to speculate about why she

11:58

did this. Was she genuinely afraid

12:01

or some people wondered

12:04

whether or not this was a

12:06

hoax to try to get more attention

12:08

and more followers on Instagram,

12:11

right, I mean, her count her follower

12:13

account rose dramatically after this

12:15

happened. Again, Like, I don't want to do too much speculation,

12:18

but I did some research into this, and I

12:20

want to throw a couple of things

12:22

out there. You've we've

12:24

all heard of Munchausen syndrome, right,

12:27

Yeah, you know it was in like TV movies

12:30

of the Week where moms get their kids

12:32

sick so that they get more attention. That's

12:35

Munchausen by proxy. And then there's Munchausen syndrome,

12:37

where you pretend to be sick, um or

12:40

have a crisis to get more attention. There's

12:42

actually a phenomenon now called Munchausen

12:45

by Internet, which

12:47

people pretend to have a crisis

12:50

on a social media platform

12:52

in order to get more attention.

12:55

Interesting, it's a real thing, and

12:57

it's people putting themselves out there either saying they're

12:59

sick, their kids are sick, or

13:02

they're in some sort of crisis situation

13:05

because they crave attention. And the fact

13:07

of the matter is attention is also a

13:10

very basic human need.

13:14

I was reading this story in The Guardian written by

13:16

Leo Benedictus. The headline

13:18

was why attention seeking

13:20

is the defining need of

13:22

our times? You know,

13:24

he quotes this psychologist

13:27

Dr Jeff McDonald. He's a psychologist at the University

13:29

of Toronto who says attention

13:32

is one of the most valuable resources

13:35

in existence for

13:37

social animals. Yeah,

13:39

people have become even more desperate for attention

13:41

and frankly addicted to attention because

13:45

of social media. And so

13:47

I think, well, again,

13:49

we're speculating, and I don't want to speculate too much. And I

13:51

don't you guys have listened to the episodes.

13:54

I don't want to trash this woman. I don't I don't

13:56

know. I'm gonna put on my like I

13:58

don't know your life. Snap,

14:01

Snap, I don't know your life. Well, it's more

14:03

just a lens through which we can look

14:05

at this phenomenon, right, like

14:07

take away the particulars in the specifics,

14:10

like it is a

14:12

lens through which to sort of look

14:16

at how that need, that very

14:18

human need for attention will

14:22

impact people's behavior. And

14:24

absolutely, and so I want to take a step

14:26

back. Even if she

14:29

genuinely thought that these people were going to kidnap

14:31

her children, as a mother, my

14:34

first instinct would not to be not be

14:36

to go on Instagram to tell the world

14:38

that someone was trying to kidnap my children. My

14:41

first instinct would be to get my kids and get the funk

14:43

out of there. Yeah, so

14:45

that that I think it's that instinct to go

14:47

on Instagram that is making

14:50

people so interested in this and curious about

14:52

why she did this, Because in a moment

14:54

of crisis, I would not feel any broadcast

14:58

that well, she

15:00

says in the video. The part of the video that's

15:02

still available. UM that

15:05

the reason she's doing it right then

15:07

and there is because she really

15:09

wants to draw attention to this and

15:11

to make people aware. She

15:13

makes this interesting comment about, you

15:15

know, we're also focused on protecting

15:17

our kids by wearing masks, but

15:20

we're forgetting to protect our kids

15:22

by just keeping them with us. So

15:25

she says the reason she's doing it right

15:28

then in the moment is to create

15:30

more awareness. I still

15:32

think that in a moment as a mother

15:34

with adrenaline going, I don't

15:36

I get I think this is so hard because I don't want to judge

15:38

other mothers, but you're My

15:41

first instinct would not be to say

15:44

no where I'd call my best friend

15:46

because my husband told I wouldn't believe me. I

15:50

mean, I would call someone, but it would not

15:52

be Instagram, but I would yeah,

15:54

exactly exactly. Now, no

15:57

matter why Katie did

16:00

this, we don't. We don't know. We can't talk to her.

16:02

I tried to reach her, can't reach her. What

16:05

I do want to talk about is how the press

16:07

covered this, because we

16:09

talked about this a lot in Under

16:11

the Influence, how the

16:13

entire media is very condescending to

16:16

the moment industrial complex, and frankly

16:19

that was also the case here had

16:21

Katie had another job, Like, what

16:23

if Katie were an accountant or

16:26

a dental hygienist, would that career

16:29

be in the headline? Would have said local

16:31

accountant Katie Sirrensen

16:34

couple of kidnapping. But instead,

16:36

because she's a mom influencer, which is something

16:39

that the media patently believes is ridiculous.

16:42

It was in the headlines. But it wasn't

16:44

just in the headlines. It was put in quotations.

16:48

I was put in quotations and both

16:50

NBC and sf Gate, which

16:52

is the digital arm of the San Francisco Chronicle,

16:54

as if it were a fake job.

16:58

Oh so yeah, looking

17:00

at the like, I've read a bunch of the BuzzFeed

17:02

articles and they did not put it in

17:04

quotes. But yeah,

17:07

that is really I

17:10

guess to play devil's advocate

17:12

and to be annoying, I would

17:14

say that maybe putting it in the headline

17:17

is drawing attention to the fact that she has

17:20

the power to reach more people than

17:22

say, an accountant or a dental hygienist.

17:26

Yes, yes, that's fair, but also, come

17:29

on, I've written headlines forever like

17:31

that is clickbait, totally

17:33

totally and putting it

17:35

in quotes is definitely gross.

17:37

Putting it in quotes is gross because, as

17:40

we've established, no matter what

17:43

you think about her or what she did, being

17:45

a content creator on the internet is

17:47

a job. So by putting it in quotes,

17:50

it's like you're who

17:53

the hoop enthusiasright, totally

17:58

yeah, no, that's totally true and

18:00

it and it immediately putting

18:02

it in the headline like that immediately discredits

18:05

her story. Whether or not you know it

18:07

should be just you know that that's not their job

18:09

to discredit a story. It's not their job. Their

18:11

job is to report the news, report

18:13

the news, and tell me what happened. But putting

18:16

it in quotes, by putting it in the headline, I think

18:18

you are automatically putting a lens on this

18:20

story and not letting us make that decision

18:22

for ourselves. And I know I don't.

18:24

That's That's why I want to check out

18:26

of the entire news industrial complex these

18:29

days. Um, I

18:31

think we're gonna hear more from this story. I think we're gonna

18:33

hear more about it. I wanted to do this bonus episode.

18:35

I think about three and seventeen people

18:37

sent me this story in a d M on Instagram

18:39

when I was I cannot not, and

18:45

it does. We'll talk more about this in season

18:47

two, about the science

18:49

behind attention and how even if

18:51

your job is creating content on

18:53

the Internet, of course you're personally enjoying

18:56

the attention that you're getting from it

18:58

because it's a base. I mean,

19:00

it is a basic human need. I think it may even

19:02

be in Maslow's hierarchy

19:04

of needs somewhere, maybe enough hold on, I'm looking

19:07

them looking the Gardian story, it says

19:09

Abraham Abraham Maslow, you

19:11

know the most I know, but

19:14

put belonging into his

19:17

famous hierarchy of needs. In belonging

19:20

attention the fact that we want people

19:22

to pay attention and care about

19:25

what we're doing. So that's we're

19:27

gonna all right, We're gonna do a whole episode

19:29

on attention and the need for attention

19:31

in season two. And we're

19:34

also going to follow up on the story about Katie,

19:36

who again like, I really do want to know

19:38

her skincare routine because she looks it

19:41

looks beautiful. I always think that if I'm ever

19:43

caught in a crisis and the

19:46

news the newspaper has to quickly grab a screenshot

19:48

of me from something. They're

19:50

gonna have one where I look like sloth

19:52

from Goodness. I

19:54

always think I'm gonna look like a friable. Yeah

19:57

yeah, like that's that's true, Like it's good I

20:00

think they're gonna be like, instead of journalists

20:02

writer did something

20:05

ridiculous, it will be like sloth from

20:07

Goonies or

20:11

a sweaty red fraggle. I

20:13

will never look as good as Katie

20:15

Sorrenson did in that

20:18

screenshot A good day.

20:21

But I also think that there has to be no

20:24

matter why she did it,

20:27

it's and it's terrible that she also targeted.

20:29

I mean, we know it's it's

20:31

this story has so many levels because there's

20:34

the accusing someone of kidnapping, but there's also

20:36

it's a white woman accusing a Latino couple

20:38

of a kidnapping in such racially charged

20:41

times. Um, I can't help

20:43

but think would this story be different if she accused

20:46

like a creepy, pasty white

20:48

guy wearing pleated khakis. I

20:51

mean I think it would.

20:54

I think it would. I mean

20:56

that is terrifying to have your

20:59

face out on the internet associated

21:01

with kidnapping and especially

21:03

with the hashtags save the children. Millions

21:06

of people, you know, check

21:09

that hashtag, and that's really

21:12

really scary, and I

21:14

think that cannot be taken

21:16

lightly in this story. No, it

21:18

can't be. And thankfully the martinez

21:21

Is are have been they were

21:23

they were never charged, but in their names

21:25

are being cleared and I'm so glad that they're

21:27

speaking out and saying right,

21:30

we do feel that this was

21:32

was racially motivated. That has

21:35

some sympathy for her, and it just has

21:37

to as a fellow mother, I she

21:41

made a bad decision and it brings

21:43

me back to cancel culture too,

21:46

and the fact that these stories get so much

21:48

attention. Will this Will

21:50

this ruin the rest of her life? I

21:56

I don't know why I think it won't,

21:59

but it I do. I

22:02

just think white women do get

22:05

the gift of you

22:07

know, like the cat with Nine lives, Like I

22:09

do think there's just built in second

22:11

chances for white women in

22:13

a you know, not fair

22:16

way obviously, um,

22:19

but it could, but it might color the rest of her life,

22:22

and it's just that again, that's just something that's interesting

22:24

to think about one moment,

22:27

right being something online, Yes,

22:31

going to affect you and your kids.

22:33

So I guess I guess the moral of this story.

22:36

What world trying

22:38

not to look like sloth? They're

22:41

on the internet because it will. It could end

22:43

up on the cover of the New York Post one day.

22:46

Absolutely, if I were in

22:48

like a biplane crash, it would be

22:50

like

22:56

what would happen to I'm definitely a biplane to

22:58

present the present um

23:01

or like a tragic trampoline accident. That's

23:06

what would happen to me. But I

23:08

think you have the other think before

23:10

you post, yeah, yeah,

23:13

before you post.

23:16

Goddamn breath everybody,

23:23

that's me taking a breathing.

23:28

The Pedalma Police Department. If

23:30

you have questions about the coronavirate

23:33

so called marg dot org or

23:36

called to one one. I

23:38

do want to say we tried to reach out to the pedal in a police

23:40

department. Hi,

23:44

this is Joe Piazza. I'm a reporter from

23:46

I Heart Media UM and I'm working

23:48

on a story about Katie Srenson

23:50

and we left a message with the chief of

23:52

police and got no response about

23:55

this story. We also

23:57

attempted to reach out to Katie Srensen,

24:00

to Sadie and Eddie Martinez,

24:03

you guys will be the first to know if anyone gets

24:05

back to us. I

24:15

miss you, guys. I miss Under the

24:18

Influence. I missed talking about this ship all

24:20

the time. I really do. And that is why I'm

24:22

just so happy that we're about to

24:24

start reporting season two, because the world needs

24:26

this and I like to do good things for the world.

24:29

And thank you guys for tuning in. And we will be back

24:32

very soon. And I promise if

24:34

another influencer scandal blows up, I'm

24:36

here for it. I will do all the bonuses, all

24:38

of the bonuses, even if it drives our producer Emily

24:40

a little bit crazy. It's okay,

24:43

Emily. I'll drink tequila with you at ten in the

24:45

morning. Goodbye, everybody,

24:47

talk more soon. Under

24:53

the Influence is reported and hosted by

24:55

me Joe Piazza and

24:58

my Marinoff is our producer. I theme

25:00

and additional music was composed by Jessica

25:02

kryd Chitch. Many many thanks

25:04

to Sarah Peterson for joining me today, and

25:07

thank you to Oran Rosenbaum at U

25:09

t A. And I just realized that other people

25:11

thank their agents and their credits, and I thought I should give

25:13

Oran a big thank you, thank you orin

25:16

You're the best. Maybe

25:25

we could put this at the end of the episode, but um

25:28

note to Emily. Wouldn't it have been funnier

25:30

if we had recorded this whole episode

25:33

from inside of a Michael's, just

25:35

inside, like the scrap

25:37

book, I'll at Michael's season

25:40

two. Maybe it's on the to do

25:43

list. Thanks Emily, You're

25:46

a goddess.