Psychic accused of bilking $100K from grieving woman
Sun Sentinel, Florida/November 13, 2013
By Brittany Shammas
The psychic told the grieving woman her family was cursed and the money she inherited from her late mother was, too.
There was only one way to lift the curse: by handing the money — all $100,000 of it — over for "cleansing" rituals involving meditation and a priest in Miami. Once the curse was cleared, the 30-year-old Boca Raton could have the majority of the cash back.
The psychic told the grieving woman her family was cursed and the money she inherited from her late mother was, too.
There was only one way to lift the curse: by handing the money — all $100,000 of it — over for "cleansing" rituals involving meditation and a priest in Miami. Once the curse was cleared, the 30-year-old Boca Raton could have the majority of the cash back.
But that wasn't in the cards: Police say the fortune teller blew all the money gambling at the casino.
"There was this feeling of guilt that this money that my dead mother left me is gone," said the victim, a 30-year-old professional who is not being identified. "I'm embarrassed; I'm angry. I definitely feel angry more at myself because I know that it's not an unknown thing that there's psychic frauds out there –especially in Florida."
Now the psychic, 23-year-old Stephanie Thompson, who also goes by Stephanie Lee and worked at the Psychic Boutique in Boca Raton, is facing felony fraud and grand theft charges. The Lighthouse Point woman spent several hours in jail after being arrested Tuesday by Boca Raton police, and was released early Wednesday on $40,000 bail.
Attempts to reach Thompson and her attorney were unsuccessful. Loretta Rose Costello of Fort Lauderdale, owner of the Boca Raton-based business where Thompson worked, also could not be reached.
The victim said Wednesday she was roped into the scheme bit by bit during a vulnerable time. Distraught over her mother's recent death and the break up of a relationship soon after, she first stumbled across the psychic business on North Federal Highway during a lunch break in May 2012.
"I saw her sign and I said, you know, what the heck. I'll go in here and get, I figured, a 50 dollar reading," the woman said.
Instead, Thompson told her she needed to pay $2,000 for meditation to determine the cause of the "negative energy" she was picking up on. The price grew to more than $20,000 after the fortune teller said she meditated and discovered the woman was cursed, the Boca Raton police report said.
At the time, the victim said, she believed Thompson. She had lost her dad unexpectedly as a teenager and, in 2011, her mom died after a battle with ovarian cancer. The psychic told her she, too, could get cancer if she didn't go through with the rituals, according to the report.
"In my logical mind, I probably would have said, 'Get the heck out of here, you're crazy,'" the victim said. "But I was distraught. I had gone through a string of very difficult things. And you think, maybe I am cursed. Maybe there is something going on here."
The police report details what happened next. The victim met Thompson at locations around Boca Raton and the two headed to the bank to withdraw cash. The psychic told her she couldn't tell anyone what she was doing or it would erase the work she'd done.
Wanting it to succeed, the victim said Wednesday she never told a soul and made up a story when bank officials questioned her.
"I thought to myself, if she could help me to put my life back in order and get rid of whatever it is going on in my life, then it's worth it," the victim said.
Three months passed and the $100,000 ran out, the report said. The victim gave the fortune teller about $10,000 more. Then, the victim said, she told herself to "stop being stupid." In mid-July, she asked for the cash Thompson had promised to return, but the psychic kept making excuses, the report said.
Finally, in September 2012, the woman went to police. While she was speaking to an officer, Thompson called, according to the report. The officer listened as the fortune teller said she could get her about $75,000 of the $100,000 she owed. When the two women agreed to meet outside a CVS, he came along.
The officer spoke to Thompson, and that's when she admitted losing the money at a casino. The victim said she was told she'll probably never see her money again.
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