Serial pregnancy fraudster is arrested again just three months after being sentenced to house arrest for lying to doulas that she was expecting, then faking still births as they tried to help her

A fantasist who conned doulas into giving her naked massages by pretending she was pregnant has been arrested again just three months after telling a court she was a ‘changed person’.

Kaitlyn Braun, 25, was sentenced to two years house arrest in February after causing ‘immeasurable pain’ to more than a dozen pregnancy support workers across Ontario with her stories of sexual assault and stillbirth.

The social worker went to extreme lengths to maintain her pretense, telling them she had a bleeding disorder and terminal cancer, and sending two of them a picture of a stillborn baby at the end of her treatment.

The news that she is facing multiple new charges has left her previous victims feeling doubly betrayed.

‘There has been a lot of feelings within our group, a lot of conversations taking place,’ said Amy Silva. ‘Emotions are heated. Conversations are heated.

During the ordeal Braun convinced doulas that she had a bleeding disorder and kept them on the phone while she pretended to go under medical procedures and then said that she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer

London-based doula Amy Silva said news of Braun’s new charges had appalled her previous victims: ‘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.’

Some of the doulas supported Braun in person at her home in Brantford, others through the phone or over video chat.

She told some her ‘pregnancy’ was the result of sexual assault.

But it was Braun herself who was the sexual offender, accused of coercing 19 victims into giving her massages while she was physically naked with the ‘intent to insult or offend them’.

One victim, Amy Perry, said her experience with Braun left her traumatized, after she tried to support the pregnancy faker for eight days.

Perry told CTV News last year that she helped Braun virtually and for free, adding: ‘The moans, the sounds she made were really realistic, even through the last stage of labor – through transition – she would even go as far as to vomit, which is the normal thing.

‘We really felt that there was an individual who was alone in the world going through something really horrible and we were just willing to put the scope of our practice aside and help her.’

Shauna Hayes, who also worked pro bono, claims Braun told her she had been sexually assaulted outside of a hospital, so she initially refused to go.

Doula Shauna Hayes took to TikTok to reveal how she was duped by the Brantford fantasist

Abigail Dienesch, another victim, said that she was left feeling ‘violated’ after supporting Braun 24/7 over social media

The doula then drove her to the hospital, where she continued to fake her contractions after several hours.

Her performance was so convincing, nurses thought they had found a heart beat for the ‘baby’, before performing an ultrasound which proved she was not pregnant.

She then told her doula ‘I’m so confused’, and declined any psychiatric help from the hospital, despite having scans in Hamilton three weeks earlier which showed she was not pregnant.

‘I just want her to stop,’ Hayes said. ‘It’s not about punishment for me. It’s just about protecting other doulas, and to stop them from going through what I went through.

Another victim, who did not want to be identified, said: ‘It’s bizarre and very sad for doulas to have to check or second-guess their clients, I want to be able to take people at their word.’

At her trial in December last year she admitted 21 charges — including fraud, indecent acts, false pretenses and mischief — between June 2022 and February 2023.

Her lawyers told the court she faced mental health problems, including memories of childhood sexual assault, severe depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and bipolar and borderline tendencies.

The court also heard she had made almost 200 hospital visits since 2006.

‘I know that the words I speak today do not take back what I did and that they don’t automatically create healing,’ she said as she was sentenced.

‘What I did was ultimately very wrong, and I feel a strong sense of shame when I think of the hurt and the pain that I’ve caused. I never wanted to be the person I became.

‘However, it is my hope that my words, along with my plan of action, show that I’m a changed person.’

She would seek out the doulas – professionals who provide support during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period – and tell them she had fallen pregnant after a sexual assault or was suffering a stillbirth

Braun told the court she was a ‘changed person’ as she was sentenced to two-years’ house arrest in February after admitting 21 charges

She was ordered to live with her mother, wearing a GPS monitor, not to use any computer that has internet access or download any social media apps.

Hamilton Police arrested her on multiple criminal charges last week including obtaining by false pretense, harassing communications and alleged breach of a conditional sentence order.

She is also accused of falsely soliciting support, related to pregnancy and childbirth, between April 17 and April 18.

‘Today has been rough,’ Silva told CTV.

‘We’re trying to navigate what to do and how to feel. And there’s no manual on how to do that.’