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Nadya Suleman, the woman nicknamed “Octomom,” has pleaded no contest to welfare fraud in Los Angeles Monday, according to Reuters. She has been sentenced to 200 hours of community service.
Suleman was also sentenced to two years of probation in a case that involved her failure to report income to welfare officials even though she was receiving public assistance, according to a statement from Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey.
Lacey said that Suleman was charged with failure to report $30,000 in income from videos and public appearances. At first, Suleman faced five years and eight months in prison for the charges. Suleman entered a no-contest plea in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Arthur LaCilento is Suleman’s attorney. He said that bad record-keeping led to the issue.
“I don’t think she’s a bad person who wanted to take advantage of the system,” LaCilento said.
Both sides of the case said that Suleman made restitution to the California Department of Health Care Services in the amount of $9,805. She also paid $16,481 to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services. Suleman decided to plead no contest because she did not want to get involved in a lengthy trial.
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“We could have litigated this, but she didn’t want to go through a long trial and she wanted to resolve it quickly,” LaCilento said.
Suleman received overwhelming support in 2009 as a single mother of newborn octuplets. When the tabloids found out she underwent multiple fertility treatments to have the babies, she was overrun with criticism. She already had six children.
