Judge on woman who faked pregnancy to prey on doulas: ‘High-risk’

BRANTFORD – A judge accepted 21 guilty pleas from a woman created a pregnancy story to prey on doulas, but expressed his concerns about allowing her to return to the community after more than a year in jail.

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“I’ve read the psychological report and . . . she’s an extremely high risk to re-offend, so how is the community not going to be at risk?” Justice Robert Gee asked as he convicted Kaitlyn Braun.

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Braun, 25, was charged early this year with criminal harassment, false pretenses, fraud, sexual assault and committing an indecent act.

As the story was shared on social media, more doulas – who support women through pregnancy and child birth – came forward to launch complaints, including ones from Alberta and Florida.

Gee heard that Braun used a similar story in most cases, contacting doulas and telling them she was carrying a stillborn baby as a result of a sexual assault. She often took up days of the doulas’ time, playing on their emotions and involving them in intimate massages or being naked or partially naked in front of them, court was told.

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Braun had doulas coaching her through her fictitious labor as she screamed and cried, either over the phone or through social media, or face-to-face at her home, at Airbnbs that she would rent and even at various hospitals.

Eventually, the doula community began warning each other about the scam through TikTok videos and many contacted police.

Braun was arrested March 12 and has remained in custody since.

While she pleaded guilty to 21 charges related to incidents involving more than a dozen different doulas, she didn’t plead to the sexual assault charges.

Further offenses against other doulas were read into the court record, developing a case of aggravated circumstances.

Assistant Crown attorney Josh Mociak said many of the doulas reported being traumatized.

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In several cases, Braun texted the doulas a photo of a stillborn baby.

In one case as she was connected to a doula in Alberta and supposedly in hospital, she began sending texts from a fictitious friend who said Braun had been rushed to the operating room, dying of a hemorrhage.

After alleging several days of painful contractions and invasive hospital procedures, Braun told two doulas she had been sexually assaulted by doctors. Mociak said she told the women: “We’re all trauma-bound together and I don’t ever want to get rid of you.”

There was no discussion during the hearing about why Braun, an unemployed but registered social worker, pursued the pregnancy story, often traveling to meet doulas and balancing several doula connections at once.

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Braun also reported to police that one of the doulas had sexually assaulted her. She provided an audio-video statement to police about the alleged assault and went to Brantford General Hospital to have a sexual assault kit processed on her. The kit eventually showed no DNA other than Braun’s.

She pleaded guilty to mischief for that offense.

The judge was given Braun’s mental health assessment from St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hamilton, which was sealed. He was told the Crown wants to ensure Braun is enrolled in long-term therapy.

“We want to enforce that she takes counseling as long as possible,” Mociak said, adding he and Braun’s lawyer will present a joint submission for time served of about 400 days.

“The only way she might get better is through intense counseling and we want us to keep our finger on her as long as possible,” Mociak said.

Gee indicated his concerns about Braun’s situation improving. “Everything I’ve seen so far points in the other direction.”

Several of her victims – their names protected by a publication ban – attended court to hear Braun plead guilty and will return in January when victims will read their impact statements and Gee will hear sentencing submissions.

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