One woman went above and beyond just to temporarily get out of work!
According to affidavits, Robin Folsom (not pictured above) pretended to be pregnant and have a baby to take paid maternity leave from her job as the director of external affairs at the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency. Yes, that means she was a state official — and that salary was coming from taxpayers! State Inspector General Scott McAfee told Atlanta’s Channel 2:
“When GVRA first sent us this case, we thought there had to be a misunderstanding. We couldn’t believe it.”
Neither can we! How the heck does someone pull that off?!
The Georgia Office of the Inspector General revealed Folsom wore a fake baby bump and even sent pictures of her newborn to co-workers. WHAT?!
The 43-year-old also made up a fake father named Bran Otmembebwe. An individual claiming to be him then allegedly emailed her bosses to say she was under doctor’s order to remain on bed rest for several weeks after giving birth in May 2021. As a result, she received seven weeks of paid maternity leave from her state job!
But that’s not all! She did this before! Per the Inspector General’s office, Robin previously told her job that she had first given birth in July 2020. However, that child was also apparently a lie! There were no official records of her ever having a child or insurance records to indicate a delivery at the Piedmont Hospital in July 2020 or May 2021.
She got away with those, but we guess she got sloppy. Because she announced that she was pregnant yet again in August 2021.
Soon enough, people at her job started realizing things weren’t adding up…
Her scheme was eventually exposed when a staff member at the agency saw part of her stomach “come away” from her body at one point and immediately thought Robin was wearing a fake pregnant belly. They also noticed the photos she sent of her kid had featured children with “varying skin tones.”
Unbelievable! Literally!
McAfee applauded her co-workers for seeing and saying something to stop this alleged scam:
“The GVRA employees, the human resources, just started putting two and two together. Things weren’t adding up, and thankfully they didn’t shrug it off. They realized that this was something that was more serious.”
When confronted by investigators in October 2021, Robin reportedly insisted Otmembebwe was a legit person and the father of her child. Now, she has been indicted by a grand jury in Fulton County for three counts of making false statements and one count of identity fraud. She also resigned from her position in October 2021 amid the probe. In a statement about the drama, McAfee said:
“All state employees, and especially those that communicate with the media and general public on behalf on their agency, should be held to the highest standards of integrity and honesty. OIG will continue to hold state employees accountable if they choose to deceive their superiors and receive undeserved compensation.”
The Georgia Attorney General’s Office will prosecute the case. If convicted, Robin faces up to 10 years in prison for identity fraud and up to five years in prison for each charge of making false statements. She also could receive up to a $100,000 fine.
This is absolutely wild, Perezcious readers! What are your thoughts on this situation? Sound OFF in the comments (below)!
P.S. Wondering who’s in the photo (above)? That’s Lindsey Lohan in the film Labor Pains… which is has an oddly similar plot! LOLz!
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