Convicted pregnancy fraudster charged again in Hamilton

A woman has been charged with fraud after allegedly faking a pregnancy while still under house arrest after she was recently convicted of doing the same.

Kaitlyn Braun, 25 of Brantford, pled guilty to 21 fraud-related charges after defrauding doulas by falsely claiming she was pregnant and faking miscarriages.

A doula is a trained professional who guides their client through pregnancies, abortions and miscarriages. While regulated, doulas are not medical personnel and cannot administer medication.

In trial last year, the Crown charged Braun with 52 charges related to lying to 19 doulas from June 2022 to February 2023. She pled guilty to half of these charges, according to media reports.

The crown argued Braun had coerced the doulas into giving her messages while naked and would take this opportunity to insult and harass them. She also faked childbirth by pretending to deliver stillborn babies complete with screaming and crying.

Often she would convince the doulas to provide services for free or later fail to pay them. The doulas, who hailed from Alberta, Florida and Ontario, told the court these experiences as deeply traumatic and some are in treatment for PTSD. Others left the field entirely after dealing with Braun.

Court heard psychiatric reports that Braun was likely to re-offend. However, the Crown and the Defense agreed to a joint submission requesting two years of house arrest under a GPS ankle monitor and a two-year ban from accessing the internet.

Justice Robert Gee found the submission “distasteful” but courts are required to follow joint submissions. The doulas expressed outrage at the sentence and concurred with the judge.

Braun’s trial concluded in February 2024 meaning she’s now been on house arrest for only about three months as of this writing. On May 1, Hamilton police announced they had charged Braun again with some of the same offences she had previously been convicted of.

Investigators allege she reached out to several other doulas to obtain pregnancy services on April 17 and 18. She was arrested on April 29 on charges of obtaining services under a false pretence, harassing communications, and breaching her house arrest conditions.

She remains in custody following a bail hearing. Anyone with information can call police at 905-546-3851 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).