Mother of 14 failed to declare earnings of $25,000 (€18,358) while living off food stamps

Jul 15, 2014 07:59 GMT  ·  By
Nadya Suleman avoids doing any jail time in connection to welfare fraud charges, is put on probation
   Nadya Suleman avoids doing any jail time in connection to welfare fraud charges, is put on probation

Nadya Suleman, aka Octomom, was charged with three felony counts of welfare fraud at the beginning of the year, after it emerged that she had declared less income than she’d actually pocketed for the year 2013, which, in turn, allowed her to go on government assistance once more.

This wasn’t the first time that Octomom had been on food stamps but, even though there had been some talk before that she was defrauding the state because she was making a lot of money from appearances and interviews, this was the first time when she was actually caught.

For the previous year, she failed to declare $25,000 (€18,358) in income from an adult film she made. This omission allowed her to receive state help but, to prove to the judge that it wasn’t on purpose, she’s already returned the money she received as assistance.

In court some hours ago, Suleman pled not guilty to all charges and copped a plea, TMZ reports. So, where she was facing up to 5 years on the felony charges, she avoided jail and got just a fine and was put on probation.

“Octo pled no contest to one misdemeanor welfare fraud. She already paid the ill-gotten money back and must perform 200 hours of community service. She was placed on 2 years probation,” the celebrity publication says.

“Octo paid back $9,805 [€7,199] to Medi-Cal, $16,481 [€12,100] to the L.A. County Dept. of Public Social Services, which included fraud over food stamps,” TMZ continues, adding that it’s common practice to let first-time offenders on welfare fraud get off without jail time.

Suleman’s road to fame has been as spectacular as it has been controversial: she became an international star when she gave birth to healthy octuplets, with all major media outlets rushing to do an interview with her. This earned her the nickname Octomom, which turned into a mockery when word got out that she already had 6 minor children at home, no steady job and no prospect or desire of getting one, and was living on food stamps.

In subsequent interviews, Suleman came clean about having all children through IVF, saying she was addicted to the idea of having as many young ones as possible around her. Her sanity was questioned and, when news broke that she and the kids were living in what was described as a hell hole (from which they were later evicted too), she lost all public support.

To make ends meet, Suleman has even tried her hand at being an adult movie star and even an Angelina Jolie lookalike, but both efforts were widely ridiculed online.

She also spent some time in rehab for an alcohol and prescription medication addiction. With all this drama in her life (including this trial for fraud), many can’t help but wonder about the wellbeing of her 14 children.