Brantford, Ont. woman, charged again with falsely soliciting pregnancy support, back in court

Kaitlyn Braun, the Brantford, Ont. woman who previously admitted to deceiving doulas and is facing similar charges again, is not seeking bail at this time, her lawyer Alison Macdonald said Friday.

She has represented Braun in the past and told CTV News she has been retained again.

Hamilton Police announced on Wednesday that Braun, 25, had been arrested and is facing multiple criminal charges including obtaining by false pretence, harassing communications and alleged breach of a conditional sentence order.

They accuse Braun of falsely soliciting support, related to pregnancy and childbirth, between April 17 and April 18.

Braun appeared in court on Wednesday. Her case was briefly addressed in a Hamilton courtroom on Friday but Braun did not make an appearance.

Macdonald said having an alleged breach is distinguished from the new charges and there is some urgency to get it addressed.

Back in February, Braun was sentenced to two years of house arrest after pleading guilty to deceiving and defrauding multiple doulas, starting in June 2022.

She admitted to contacting numerous doulas, pretending to be pregnant, often claiming it was the result of a sexual assault.

The doulas supported Braun, some in person and others through the phone or over video chat.

In some cases, Braun pretended to go through a stillbirth, even sending the doula a photo of a stillborn baby.

Doulas told CTV Kitchener that their experiences with Braun left them emotionally distressed, mentally traumatized and hearing of her recent arrest on similar charges has been a setback in their efforts to heal.

Amy Silva, a London-based doula and one of Braun’s original victims, said they are supporting each other, but it’s been difficult.

“Today has been rough,” Silva told CTV News on Friday. “There has been a lot of feelings within our group, a lot of conversations taking place. Emotions are heated. Conversations are heated. It's a difficult place for all of us right now, and we're all at different places on our healing journey and growing from all of this, which makes being thrown back into this a little bit more difficult for everybody because we’re trying to navigate what to do and how to feel. And there's no manual on how to do that.”