A woman was arrested by cops after she charged a local woman $125 for telling her fortune
A woman claiming to be a psychic was arrested Friday for trying to scam a Long Island woman out of more than $1,000 by telling her she was cursed and selling her a stone and a clear plastic bag filled with a red liquid to lift the curse, police said.
Tiffany Evans, 22, was arrested by undercover officers at Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove after pretending to read a Smithtown woman’s fortune, and trying to settle a debt of $650 for removing a supposed curse, police said. Evans also tried to sell the woman candles for $550, which she claimed would get rid of negative energy, police said.
She was charged with fraudulent accosting, fortune telling and attempted grand larceny, all misdemeanors.
Evans, who police said lives in Aventura, Fla., but was visiting her parents in Hauppauge, was expected to make her first court appearance on Saturday in First District Court in Central Islip.
There was no phone listing for Evans in Aventura, and police did not release the address for her parents.
Suffolk County police Sgt. Michael O’Brien said that Evans approached the 18-year-old Smithtown woman, who was not identified, for the first time at the mall on Sept. 7.
Tiffany Evans
Evans told the 18-year-old that she appeared “upset,” and offered to read her fortune for $25, O’Brien said. The suspect then offered to do a more “in-depth” reading for $100.
Two days later, they again met at the mall, and Evans told the woman she had a curse, which she could get rid of with a stone and body wash for an additional $1,250, police said. The victim agreed, and on Sept. 11, after a down payment of $600, the suspect gave the woman the stone and the liquid.
The woman agreed to pay Evans the remaining amount later but became suspicious, O’Brien said. She contacted police, who set up the undercover sting, he said.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
