Ashley Palmer recounted that the accused scammer reached out by originally posting on a Facebook page looking for a doula in Penticton to deal with a stillbirth
A Penticton woman describes herself as "traumatized" after her work as a doula was taken advantage of, alleging she was conned as part of a nationwide fraud.
Doulas are non-medically trained professionals who provide continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to a mother before, during, and shortly after childbirth, different from midwives. “We had [around] an hour-long phone call of her explaining her story about how her pregnancy was the result of a sexual assault," Palmer said.
Palmer recounted that Braun said she was out of work, and Palmer offered to take her case on at no cost, which she does once a year to help families in need as what she calls a ‘karma birth.' Palmer said Braun dodged her requests for information for necessary paperwork, and she let that go in the moment because she thought there was a trauma and loss being experienced and didn't want to add pressure.
“She said that she was walking into labour and delivery. And she was having full-on fake conversations with emergency staff and nursing staff," Palmer claimed.“RCMP got to the address that she gave me and confirmed that she didn't live there. And then that's when I messaged her and I [said] ‘Okay, I know you've given me a fake address. I know you weren't at the hospital, what's going on? If you can tell me that, maybe I can get you the proper help that you need.