Page 85 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - Febrary/March 2020 Edition

Busted Psychics In The News 85

Suspect behind South

Natomas psychic scam

arrested in Orange County

Fox 40 News

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KTXL) — Sacramento
police announced the arrest of woman they say
posed as a psychic and scammed multiple
people in September.
Officials arrested 29-year-old Perlita
Afanacio-Ballester in Orange County on Jan. 28
for an active warrant.
In September, Sacramento Police Officer
Karl Chan said officers responded to a home
along Helmsman Way in South Natomas after
reports of several people being in front of the
home.
“When officers arrived on scene, they
contacted the people and actually found out estate on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It Sherry Tina Uwanawich, 28, was
them all to be victims of fraud that had occurred had thrived even amid neighbors’ complaints sentenced in Miami to three years and four
at a residence on that block,” Chan said. and surprise visits from New York City months in prison following the crime. She
Officers said the woman identified inspectors who issued violations. pleaded guilty to wire fraud and must pay
herself as a psychic to her victims, gaining their The tenants in the apartment had a restitution.
trust by promising to “bless them” or double history of evading city restrictions on home- Investigators say Uwanawich first met
their money. The victims would then leave their operated businesses by finding loopholes in the the victim in 2007 in Houston, Texas, selling her
money with the promise that she would return it rules, offering a case study into how psychics services as a supposed healer.
a few days later. But when they returned, she continue to thrive in modern-day New York. For She successfully convinced the Texas
was no longer there. years, the apartment has been a revolving door woman that a curse had been placed on her
“Ultimately, most of these victims, or all for psychics who promise a $5 or $10 peek at the family and Uwanawich needed the money for
of these victims, believed the psychic and gave future, a cottage industry that has proved to be crystals and candles that would help lift the
her money. And, eventually, the suspect fled recession-proof and common-sense-proof. curse.
with all the money that was given to her,” Chan What happened to the passing woman It went on to explain that Uwanawich
said. “It also targeted the Spanish-speaking lured inside that day last year eventually brought grew up in Roma culture, and her family
community.” visits from detectives. Two separate supported themselves with money made
Chan said Afanacio-Ballester, who went investigations led to the recent arrests of three fortune-telling.
by the name “Eva Marie,” had apparently women who worked as psychics in the The Chronicle says she met her 27-year-
convinced one couple to give her more than apartment, at 143 West 69th Street. Each was old victim at the Galleria in Houston, having
$100,000. convicted of felony larceny charges and forced worked in fortune-telling locations from the age
Afanacio-Ballester faces charges of to repay the victims up to $60,000 apiece. of 17.
grand theft and false personation, according to Yet as recently as last week, Over the course of seven years, the
police. fortunetellers appeared to be operating again in “psychic” formed a bond with the Brazilian
the same location, demonstrating how resistant woman, who claimed to suffer from depression
the fortunetelling business can be to law after losing her mother.

This Upper West Side enforcement. After years of taking hundreds here and
In New York, it is a misdemeanor to there to cover candle and crystal costs,
Psychic Parlor Specializes claim to be able to use “occult powers, to answer Uwanawich was able to convince the woman
questions or give advice on personal matters or that her late mother had been cursed by a witch
in Reincarnation (Its to exorcise, influence or affect evil spirits or in South America.

Own) curses.” However, to make such claims “for the The student paid her with student loans,
purpose of entertainment or amusement” is not gift cards, clothing, a leased car and borrowed
illegal, and many fortunetellers have fine-print money, according to the Chronicle.
New York Times disclaimers in their locations. When Uwanawich moved back to
Other city agencies had previously Florida, her “friend” continued to send her

A young woman stopped a stranger on West 69th stepped in after complaints at the apartment. In money via Western Union, but in 2014 she
Street near Lincoln Center last year, reaching for 2009, the city’s Department of Buildings issued decided to come clean and tell the victim there
her hand with concern. She said she saw that the a violation to the occupants for displaying a sign was no curse.
passer-by was spiritually ill, and urged her to for a commercial business. The violation was Per court documents obtained by the
step into a nearby apartment to talk more. The dismissed, however, when the sign was Texas publication, no efforts were made to pay
signs in the apartment window read “Palm and removed. the money back despite Uwanawich claiming
Tarot Card Readings” and “Clairvoyant In the months and years that followed, she told the victim she wanted to.
Reader.” fortunetelling signs of various shapes, fonts and The anonymous victim’s lawyer, Bob
One didn’t need a third eye to notice that sizes came and went from the apartment’s Nygaard, who specializes in fraud by psychics,
the passing woman, a 42-year-old corporate window, according to a scroll through Google reportedly said in court: “If there’s one thing that
recruiter recovering from major surgery who Street. I’ve learned from years of specializing in
had just been fired from her job, was going investigating confidence crimes, it’s that anyone
through a tough time. She had been crying ‘Psychic’ Florida woman sentenced after $1.6M can be scammed by a professional con artist
minutes before the psychic, Kitty Mitchell, 25, scam to remove curse when going through a vulnerable time in his or
stopped her. her life.”
The psychic shop had been there for at A Florida woman claiming to be psychic It was later found that Uwanawich had
least 10 years, a fixture on a block of prime real scammed a Texan out of US$1.6 million in a bid been diagnosed with schizophrenia in
to rid the woman’s family of a curse. psychiatric reports submitted to the court. []