An ex-Georiga official faked her pregnancy so she could collect maternity leave pay. Officials said the scheme fell apart after a co-worker noticed her baby bump was fake.
In addition to faking her pregnancy, the Georgia office of the Inspector General announced this week that Robin Folsom, 43, also made up a fake baby daddy. She sent an email to her bosses claiming that she was under doctor’s orders for several weeks of bed rest following the birth of her baby in May 2021.
According to a news release from the IG’s office, the false birth came a couple of months after a co-worker at the state’s Vocational Rehabilitation Agency allegedly witnessed part of Folsom’s false pregnancy stomach “come away” from her body.
The release stated that Folsom, director of external affairs for the agency, sent photos of her alleged newborn to co-workers, but they “depicted children with varying skin tones.”
Folsom earned about $100,000 per year from her job.
When pressed by investigators in October 2021, Folsom stuck to her story and told prosecutors that the father of her child, Bran Otmembebwe, did exist, said the indictment against her.
Folsom told the agency that in July 2020, she had given birth and became pregnant again in October 2020. The IG located no official records of Folsom giving birth, nor did her insurance records indicate pregnancy or delivery. The release said Folsom resigned from her state job last October after investigators interviewed her to investigate her fake pregnancies.
“All state employees, and especially those that communicate with the media and general public on behalf [of] their agency, should be held to the highest standards of integrity and honesty,” IG Scott McAfee said in a statement. “OIG will continue to hold state employees accountable if they choose to deceive their superiors and receive undeserved compensation.”
State Attorney General Chris Carr announced this week that Folsom was charged with three counts of making false statements and one count of identity fraud after a local grand jury indicted her.
“Fraud by state employees will not be tolerated,” Carr said in a statement. “By working with Georgia’s independent Inspector General, we were able to discover, investigate and put an end to this alleged deception. We will always stand up to protect taxpayer dollars, and we look forward to presenting our case in court.”
