From staff reports:
A Federal Way woman faces multiple charges in a case involving a faked pregnancy and thousands of dollars in child support payments.
Carmen Lynn Johnsen is accused of forgery, first-degree theft and first-degree perjury after an investigation by the Federal Way Police Department. Her arraignment is set for Aug. 26 in Kent, according to the King County Prosecutor’s Office.
In December 2008, Johnsen told a man she was seeing that she was pregnant with his child, and the man eventually began paying $700 a month in child support, according to court documents. Johnsen continued cashing the man’s checks after receiving negative results on three pregnancy tests; he paid Johnsen a total of $3,500 in child support, according to documents.
On July 2009, the man confronted Johnsen and questioned the validity of the pregnancy. That month, Johnsen petitioned for a protection order with Superior Court of Washington/Pierce County, and perjured herself by testifying she was pregnant, according to court documents. Johnsen perjured herself three more times while testifying under oath that she was hospitalized due to pregnancy complications, according to court documents. In July 2009, Johnsen claimed she had lost the baby. Throughout the summer of 2009, she pressured the man to pay on her hospital bills, according to documents. Investigators learned that the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) had paid for Johnsen’s treatment and that her medical expenses were covered by Medicaid. Federal Way police discovered that letters related to Johnsen’s medical history had a forged signature from a doctor at the Women’s Health Care Center at St. Francis Hospital, according to court documents.
As president of a bottle collector’s club, Johnsen printed an obituary for Rebekah Lynn Johnsen in the December 2009 edition of the Ghost Town Echo newsletter, which also said “Becky died of placental abruption before she was born,” according to charging papers. An article in the January 2010 edition of the newsletter contained information for a memorial service at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Federal Way. A pastor at the church testified that Johnson came to him for a funeral service, saying she miscarried the baby as a result of a car accident and that the she had cremated the body, according to court documents.
The entire incident was reported to police in January 2010. In May 2010, Johnsen admitted to Federal Way police that she knew she was not pregnant at the time she was receiving $700 a month for child support, according to documents.
View the court documents here:
