New charge for "Octomom" in welfare fraud case

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — "Octomom" Nadya Suleman was charged with a fourth count of welfare fraud Wednesday after prosecutors said they discovered she wrongly collected an additional $10,000 in benefits from the state.

When the 38-year-old mother of 14 children was charged last month with three counts of fraud, authorities said she didn't disclose about $30,000 in earnings from videos and personal appearances when she applied for welfare last year.

CBS Los Angeles reports that the District Attorney’s Office, originally seeking around $16,000 in restitution, has upped the amount owed to $26,286.29 after finding that Suleman received nearly $10,000 in MediCal benefits that she wasn’t entitled to.

Suleman's attorney, Arthur J. La Cilento, did not immediately respond to a message left at his office Wednesday.

The single mom was released on her own recognizance after she pleaded not guilty to the original charges. She has been ordered to return to court March 11 for a pretrial hearing, and the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said she would be arraigned on the fourth count then.

She could face as much as six years and four months in jail.

Suleman was originally charged with one count of aid by misrepresentation and two counts of perjury by false application for aid. The additional count filed Wednesday was another of aid by misrepresentation.

Suleman, whose real name is Natalie Denise Suleman, became famous in 2009 by giving birth to eight children who quickly became the world's longest-surviving octuplets. They celebrated their fifth birthday last month.

She has earned money by doing a porn video, posing topless for various publications, dancing in a Florida strip club and taking part in so-called celebrity boxing matches with former "Long Island Lolita" Amy Fisher and other D-list celebrities.