A “psychic” from Florida has been found guilty of fraud and sentenced to more than three years in a federal prison for fraud and theft. The Sun-Sentinel reports:
Bridgette Evans, 33, raked in $1.6 million from clients who believed she could eradicate otherworldly forces causing them misfortune, court records show. She would instruct people to send her cash—and in one case, a Rolex watch—that she would use in a spiritual ritual, promising to return the money once the spirits disappeared. She didn’t.
Along with two relatives, Evans was arrested in May and charged with tricking clients out of money since 2007. All three have cut deals with prosecutors. Evans pleaded guilty in Fort Lauderdale federal court to a count of wire fraud and a count of mail fraud.
She previously served five years’ probation after taking a plea deal in a similar “cleansing” case in 2000, U.S. District Judge William Dimitrouleas noted while sentencing her.
Of course, what she did isn’t really much different from what every other “psychic” does.
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parasiteboy
December 12, 2011 at 11:12 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Other than promising to return the money, she is not much different than a lot of religions. Both should come with a disclaimer that says “any statements made are not intended to be factual”.
Doubting Thomas
December 12, 2011 at 11:13 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
One down and a brazillion to go.
jameshanley
December 12, 2011 at 11:14 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I foresaw that this would happen.
Mr Ed
December 12, 2011 at 11:16 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Change the word psychic to prophet and it becomes protected speech. I don’t see the difference between a psychic selling cleansing and a minister selling prosperity theology. In each case they are claiming to help people using unseen forces. If this is illegal shouldn’t Scientology auditing be illegal too?
reverendrodney
December 12, 2011 at 11:20 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
PSYCHIC SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR FRAUD
My first thought was: “They finally got Pat Robertson.”
Dang, I was wrong. Maybe some day.
nooneinparticular
December 12, 2011 at 11:36 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“Of course, what she did isn’t really much different from what every other “psychic” does.”
Or what every other televangelist does.
D. C. Sessions
December 12, 2011 at 11:39 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Who wants to bet that she spends more time in jail than Paul Schurick?
d cwilson
December 12, 2011 at 11:42 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@parasiteboy #1:
Ah, but many religions promise that if you give to them, it will come back to you three fold.
Really, is what this psychic doing really any different from a church that promises that Jesus will rain blesses down on you if you donate to them?
parasiteboy
December 12, 2011 at 11:48 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Mr Ed@4 and d cwilson@8
I see the difference as she made a verbal contract to return the goods sent to her, whereas the rest don’t, even though both promise something good to happen if goods are sent.
Religion plays the “I win game” were if it happens, they say that it was because of god and if it doesn’t, god works in mysterious ways, but don’t worry you will be rewarded in heaven for your suffering.
mattmeeks
December 12, 2011 at 11:50 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I don’t see any differences between ‘psychic’ promises of wealth and what most televangelists do. Some churches at least provide SOME value to society through feeding/helping the homeless and other charitable works. Perhaps not as effective as secular charities who use higher percentages of their donations for actually helping people, but still.
However, I’d like to see anyone promising prosperity, healing, etc. to get this same treatment.
Area Man
December 12, 2011 at 12:36 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
There are actually some difficult first amendment issues here. On the one hand, it would be nice if everyone who made supernatural promises they couldn’t deliver on were prosecuted for fraud. On the other, people have a right to believe in superstitious nonsense, and if they want to pay someone to perform meaningless rituals, then they should be allowed to.
I think the distinction here is that the psychic was committing fraud within the context of her victims’ beliefs. That is, she told them she would “cleanse” the money and return it, but she didn’t. Had she just said that they needed to pay her to get rid of bad vibes, or whatever, then she probably would have gotten away with it. And as sorry as it is, it’s hard to see how we could ban psychics from selling their “services” to the gullible. That’s a slippery slope we don’t want to be on.
Artor
December 12, 2011 at 1:03 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Of course, $1.6 million is chump change compared to the billions (trillions?) the banksters have stolen in their fraudulent rackets, and 3 yrs is much longer jail time than any of those bastards will ever see.
Big Boppa
December 12, 2011 at 1:47 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
reverendrodney @5
Had it been about Pat Robertson, the headline would have read
“PSYCHOTIC SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR FRAUD”.
fastlane
December 12, 2011 at 6:04 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Apparently, more jesus was needed. If only there were more jeebus, it wouldn’t be fraud to make all those promises, just religion.
walton
December 12, 2011 at 6:20 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Not really. The American criminal justice system is an atrocity, and the last thing society needs is more people being prosecuted for… well, anything, pretty much. (The one exception I’d make is that more police officers and prosecutors should be prosecuted for abuse of individuals’ rights.) Nor should anyone be sent to prison for fraud, ever. Not only is imprisonment traumatizing, and very expensive to the taxpayer, incarceration also increases crime; sending someone to prison generally has the effect of fucking up their life permanently, leaving them unemployable and often addicted to drugs, making it very likely that they will reoffend again and again. I’d argue that imprisonment should be used, if at all, exclusively for rapists, murderers, domestic batterers and other seriously violent people who pose an immediate danger to others’ physical safety. (I’d also point out that most other industrialized nations have a fraction of the US prison population; the US has more than 700 per 100,000 people in prison, about six or seven times the rate in most Western European countries.)
Criminalization is a crude and destructive tool for effecting social change, and I’d argue that the criminal justice system’s intrusion into our lives shoul be kept to an absolute minimum. I certainly don’t think that criminalizing people for making religious or psychic claims would be a good idea; such things are best left up to the marketplace of ideas.
Peter Whiteley
December 14, 2011 at 5:31 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I can’t compete with that for the UK but was glad that in my field of work at least one psychic was proven to be a fraud- http://bit.ly/trAEzc