Someone named Folsom might be going to prison

"Fake it 'til you make it" was a popular expression, and now, a lot of the people who preached that philosophy are making license plates, if you know what I mean...

I think now the term should be "Fake it and say you didn't," at least according to one Robin Folsom, who is charged with faking several pregnancies over the past several years.

Robin is a Georgia Belle, but the next thing that rings for her might be the prison train. You see, she said she was pregnant, and it is not possible to be a little bit pregnant. There are only two boxes to check:

[ ] pregnant

[ ] not pregnant

But she got her seven weeks paid time off because her employer checked box #1.

And she had done the same thing before! But this time, someone got wise to her, and she’s facing three counts of making false statements and one count of identity fraud.

"Mother" of the year.

Folsom, 43, was working as the director of external affairs at the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency (GVRA)in late 2020, when she told her supervisor she was awaiting a visit from the stork. She claimed to give birth in May 2021.

But according to the Georgia Office of the Inspector General (OIG), there was no baby after all (OMG!)

“When [GVRA] first sent us this case, we thought there had to be a misunderstanding. We couldn’t believe it,” said State Inspector General Scott McAfee.

I'm sure she was not the first to try to pull off this ruse, but she wasn't too clever about it...one of her co-workers saw something not quite right with her "baby bump." 

“[I]n March 2021, a co-worker observed the lower portion of Folsom’s stomach ‘come away’ from her body and believed Folsom wore a fake pregnant stomach,” the OIG said, adding, “In addition, Folsom allegedly sent pictures of her new baby to various GVRA employees, however, the pictures appeared to be inconsistent and depicted children with varying skin tones.”

I will promise you one thing:  McAfee credits Folsom’s colleagues for figuring out what was up, and the one thing I will say for sure, the people who figured it out were women.

“The GVRA employees, the human resources, just started putting two and two together,” McAfee said. “Things weren’t adding up, and thankfully they didn’t shrug it off. They realized that this was something that was more serious.”

He did not say, nor did he have to, that men don't know from nothin' about pregnancies. Ask any woman who is not married to an OB/GYN.

Anyway, as the investigation picked up steam, Folsom picked up her belongings and resigned in October 2021.

And it does not appear that her primary motivation was to be gifted a garage full of Graco strollers,  Aveeno lotion sets and monogrammed burp cloths. She wanted that paid time off, the investigators say, even going so far as to send in a letter signed by Bran Otmembebwe and sent to her bosses. The letter stated that Otmembebwe was the father of Folsom's child and further claimed her doctor had “mandated several weeks of rest following the delivery.”

Just one problem. Investigators searched the world over, and there is no such person as Bran Otmembebwe.

I thought the whole thing sounded kind of flaky.

She got seven weeks paid time off that she did not deserve, and for that, she is charged with identity fraud.  She’s now facing criminal charges after being indicted by a grand jury on Feb. 10. Trial is set for on April 4, and, if found guilty, she could spend up to 25 years in prison and pay up to $103,000 in fines.

Unless she's busy giving birth on April 4. We shall see.