A Brantford woman serving a house arrest sentence for defrauding and harassing doulas by faking pregnancies faces new charges in Hamilton.
Kaitlyn Braun, 25, faces “multiple criminal charges,” including obtaining by false pretense, harassing communications and an alleged breach of a conditional sentence order, Hamilton police said in a news release.
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The police said their investigation began Monday after they received allegations for activities on April 17-18. Braun was charged Tuesday.
“It was reported that Braun falsely solicited support related to pregnancy and childbirth from unsuspecting victim(s),” police said.
When Braun was sentenced in Brantford in February, Justice Robert Gee made it clear he was struggling with releasing her, saying, “I’m not sure counsel is correctly assessing her risk to the community. (But) I reluctantly conclude I’m bound (to accept the joint submission.”
In December, when Gee accepted Braun’s guilty pleas in Brantford, he expressed concerns her mental health situation would improve.
“Everything I’ve seen so far points in the other direction,” he said in court.
Court heard Braun contacted multiple doulas around Brantford, many parts of Ontario and much further afield to connive them into supporting her through a fictitious pregnancy.
After taking up days of the doulas’ time, she played on their emotions, involved them in intimate massages or video of her and traumatized several with stories of the stillbirth of her “baby,” including photos.
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In one case, Braun levelled a sexual assault charge against a woman, going to the extent of submitting to an assault examination in hospital and a police interview.
She pleaded guilty to 21 counts of fraud, criminal harassment, false pretenses and committing an indecent act.
Braun spent about a year in pre-trial custody and was released on strict house arrest terms in order for her to access the dialectical behavioural therapy that experts told lawyers would likely be the only way to help her.
She was given the longest possible probation of three years and ordered to live with her mother and wear a GPS monitor.
Braun was ordered not to use any computer that has internet access or download any social media apps.
Even then, the judge called the agreed-upon sentencing “distasteful,” noting a report said Braun was likely to reoffend and wouldn’t stop creating victims “given the severity of her maladaptive personality.”
Braun’s bail hearing was held Wednesday morning in Hamilton and she remains in custody.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Acting Det. Sgt Kerry Strabac at 905-546-3851 or Kstrabac@hamiltonpolice.ca.
Information can also be received anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or at the Crime Stoppers Hamilton Website.
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