Sheldon Brown didn’t want to be a dad. Or at least, not one who paid child support. So instead of owning up, he faked a DNA test. For a while, it worked—and it almost cost the mother of his child over $125,000.
Chelsea Millar had just given birth to their son, Louie, in 2022 when Brown left. Three days later, he denied being the father and pushed for a paternity test. Chelsea wasn’t worried. “I always knew who the father of my child was,” she told The Sun. But when the results came back negative, the Child Maintenance Service shut her case down.
Chelsea couldn’t understand it. So she convinced Brown’s mother to take her own DNA test through a private lab. That test showed Louie was her biological grandson, proving the original results were bogus. What unraveled next was stranger than anything Chelsea could have guessed.
Brown had roped in his aunt, who connected him to a lab technician named Robert Patel. Patel had no problem helping out. He faked the test by submitting his own saliva, forged a doctor’s signature, and used an official stamp to sell it. The scam might have flown under the radar, but Patel left behind a forensic calling card—he’d done this kind of thing before. He had a previous conviction for stealing from a disabled person. Classy.
Once investigators matched the DNA to Patel and not Brown, it was over. Both men admitted to conspiracy to commit fraud. Brown was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail. Patel got 33. There was no evidence that Patel received any money for his help, but the damage was already done.
Chelsea called out the system that let it happen. “The level of unprofessionalism and violation of trust in this case is beyond unacceptable,” she said. “Patients deserve to feel safe and respected when receiving care, especially in situations as sensitive as this.”
For Brown, it was nearly a six-figure escape plan. For Chelsea, it was a fight to prove something she already knew. And for the rest of us, it’s a reminder that some people will do a whole lot of work just to avoid doing the right thing.
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