'Octomom' charged with welfare fraud

May 19, 2010: Nadya Suleman stands outside her home in La Habra, Calif. (AP)

The woman known as the "Octomom" was charged with welfare fraud after allegedly failing to report nearly $30,000 in earnings.

Nadya Suleman, 38, who gained fame in 2009 when she made medical history by giving birth to octuplets, all of whom survived, was charged Jan. 6, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said in a news release issued Monday.

She is being charged with one count of aid by misrepresentation and two counts of perjury by false application for aid, the release said. The mother of 14 children allegedly failed to report the extra income she earned between Jan. 1, 2013 and June 30, 2013.

Suleman is scheduled to be arraigned Friday at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center. Prosecutors will ask that her bail be set at $25,000.

If convicted, she faces up to five years and eight months in jail.

Suleman gained instant fame on Jan. 26, 2009, when she gave birth to eight children at a southern California hospital. In the days that followed, she was reportedly showered with offers for book and movie deals, reality TV shows and a mountain of free baby stuff.

But as the publicity faded and her debts -- which at one point were reportedly as high as $1 million -- piled up, Suleman had to turn to other means of making money, including endorsing birth control for pets, making a pornographic video, posing for semi-nude photo shoots and participating in celebrity boxing matches.

Last year, she spent several weeks in a rehabilitation center for what her former publicist said was anxiety, exhaustion and stress.

As they approach their fifth birthdays, her octuplets are the world's longest-surviving set. Suleman has shielded them from much media attention, but occasional video and print articles seem to indicate the children are growing up healthy, even though they were born nine weeks premature.

The smallest of the eight, who weighed less than 2 pounds at birth, didn't go home from the hospital for nearly three months.

Suleman's other six children range in age from 7 to 12 and include one set of twins. One of the older children is autistic.

Efforts by The Associated Press to reach Suleman through recent associates Monday were not immediately successful.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.