Brantford woman on house arrest for faking pregnancies, defrauding doulas pleads guilty to 4 new charges

WARNING: This article references sexual assault and suicidal ideation, and may affect those who have experienced​ them or know someone affected by them.

A few months after Kaitlyn Braun was sentenced to house arrest for faking pregnancies  and fraudulently receiving the services of numerous doulas, she picked up the phone and did it again — twice.

On Tuesday, Kaitlyn Braun, 26, pleaded guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice in Hamilton to two counts of obtaining by false pretence services under $5,000, two harassment-related charges and breach of a conditional sentencing order. 

Those incidents last April occurred while she was serving two years of house arrest, after being ordered by a judge in her earlier case not to use the internet or social media, among other conditions. 

She previously pleaded guilty to 21 charges, including fraud, indecent acts, false pretences and mischief after pretending to have experienced pregnancies and stillbirths between June 2022 and February 2023.

"This is a long-standing pattern for Ms. Braun," assistant Crown attorney Simon McNaughton told the court Tuesday. 

On April 17, Braun contacted an organization in Hamilton that supports parents in crisis, McNaughton said. 

She gave a fake name and claimed to be 19 weeks pregnant, her baby wasn't going to make it to term and she needed support, McNaughton said. A volunteer contacted her to provide social worker services.

They spoke on the phone for 18 hours over two days before the volunteer discovered Braun wasn't pregnant and wasn't suffering from pregnancy complications, which was "quite distressing" for the volunteer, said McNaughton. 

"Ms. Braun was doing this for reasons only known to her," McNaughton said. 

"There appears to be a sexual dimension to these crimes." 

He said the victim heard Braun making noises "consistent with orgasm" on some of the calls, and asked the victim to describe her own birthing process and how it made her body feel. 

While Braun wasn't charged with sexual assault, the victim felt "sexually violated," McNaughton said.

Hundreds of calls, texts with victims

On April 28, Braun contacted a private doula through text, he said. She again gave a false name and claimed she was 21 weeks pregnant, experiencing pregnancy loss and her partner had left her after finding out.

Braun filled out an intake form and agreed to a $250 fee for the doula's services that she never paid, the Crown said. Over the next three days, Braun and the doula exchanged over 600 text messages. 

On April 30, Braun told her she'd been admitted to hospital, but when the doula called the hospital, she found out she wasn't there.

Both the Crown and defence have requested Braun serve three years in custody. Justice Joe Fiorucci said he will make a sentencing decision on another date in March. That's also when the court will hear statements from both victims.

Braun has a history of mental health challenges, including memories of child sexual assault, major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and bipolar and borderline tendencies, the court heard last year in the previous case. She has also experienced suicidal ideation, going to the hospital 200 times beginning in 2006, court heard previously. 

Judge concerned Braun would reoffend

A doula is a trained professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to clients before, during and shortly after childbirth. They also help with grief and trauma around pregnancy loss, but they're not health-care professionals who deliver babies and they don't have access to medical records or equipment.

About 50 doulas have said they were impacted by Braun's actions in 2022 and 2023.

At Braun's sentencing hearing in early 2024, victims described how she had coerced them into giving her massages while she was naked with the intent to insult or offend them. One doula said she developed complex post-traumatic stress disorder from her experiences with Braun. 

Back then, Braun apologized to the victims. 

"I know that the words I speak today do not take back what I did and that they don't automatically create healing. However, it is my hope that my words, along with my plan of action, show that I'm a changed person."

During the first sentencing, the Crown and defence requested Justice Robert Gee impose two years of house arrest and three years of probation rather than jail time.

Gee did so, as he was "reluctantly bound" by law, saying he didn't agree. He said he was concerned of the risk Braun posed to the community based on her long history of mental health challenges and a psychological assessment that found she was very likely to reoffend even with counselling.

"I appreciate that many victims will find this [ruling] as distasteful as I do," he said. 

Help resources

For anyone who has been sexually assaulted, support is available through crisis lines and local support services via this government of Canada website or the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. ​​If you're in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.

For anyone struggling with their mental health, help is available through:

• Canada's Suicide Crisis Helpline: Call or text 988.

• Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868. Text 686868. Live chat counselling on the website.

• Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention: Find a 24-hour crisis centre.

This guide from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health outlines how to talk about suicide with someone you're worried about.