Psychics in the Family . . . go to Jail

It seem the police may either "have it in for" a family of psychics or a family of cons have found a con that works.

"Psychic" Lisa Miller (that’s her mugshot photo tweaked a bit on the right) has been arrested and is now serving two months jail time for fraud as prosecutors pressed charges against her for bilking a woman out of US$108,000 (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/09/BA8H14KOHF.DTL&tsp=1).

Lisa was offering psychic services to remove a curse on a woman’s love life (the woman sought Miller’s spiritual cleansing help as she was in love with a guy who didn’t return her affections).

The woman gave Lisa US$108,000 from various accounts as well as cash and gift cards and jewelry and the like as well as a corvette car.

She had found Lisa via an advert in a Japanese newspaper for a US$10 psychic reading which grew into a relationship over the course of a year.  Lisa told the woman that she could see "a castle in Japan
with the bodies of the victim’s 12 ancestors, whose evil spirits had
been transferred to her. In order to cleanse herself of the evil" (http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_11177449 – if you only read one of the reference articles, read this one).

Now, the thing is that the woman did not come to suspect Miller of any wrong doing until she came upon a news story about her mother-in-law being arrested (more on her later).

Lisa Miller’s sister-in-law, Danielle, was arrested for a similar type of psychic work.  Her arrest was in a motel room while she was in the process of a spiritual cleansing.  The woman receiving the cleansing had paid US$35,000 for the ritual curse-removal (http://www.ktvu.com/news/17298716/detail.html).

Danielle and Lisa are both married to sons of Lola Miller who was also convicted of perpetrating a psychic scam.  Lola Miller, working as "Miss Donna" the psycic, was arrested for cheating a woman of US$450,000 (http://www.mahalo.com/Lola_Miller) in similar fashion to the work of her daughters.  The woman is now deceased and her widower is the major witness in the case.

The woman who cooperated with police in Lisa Miller’s case did not suspect her of any wrong doing and was happy to have paid for the urns in which to lay her ancestorial spirits to rest until she saw a newspaper article about Lola Miller at which time she concluded she too was a victim of fraud.

Do keep in mind that in California, where all three Miller women live, being a psychic or offering psychic services is not illegal.  The police do not have grounds to arrest a person without just cause or a complaint.  In Lola Miller’s case, once they had an initial headsup complaint, the police actively sought her clients.

There are many folks out there who pretend to be psychic purely out of greed.  There are also some self-deluded types.  There are also folks who do good work and are sincere.  There are also folks who render the services as advertised, regardless of their motive, and then the client develops a form of buyer’s remorse which is not particularly uncommon within alternative communities when folks are assaulted by family, friends, and media filled with doubting thomasinas – regardless of whether or not they experienced real relief from the services rendered.  Hypnotists have the same types in the hypnosis community.  There are also folks who work in both areas (see my sig for an indication . . . yes, in addition to hypnosis services, I do offer what some would consider psychic services, although such a description is a rather gross oversimplifcation, but then some folks still foolishly believe hypnosis is a supernatural power).  Certainly folks who perform pastlife therapy or spirit releasement therapy type hypnosis processes are open to similar scrutiny and some have been accused of creating issues in order to profit.

Of course, sometimes there are bad apples who do indeed damage the reputation of good folks doing good work.  Then again, there are also cases of good folks who have their reputations damaged by overzealous prosecutors who act out of their own superstitions and prejudices.  Of course . . . I may or may not have some degree of bias of my own in such matters . . . see http://www.briandavidphillips.com/training/psychichyp.html and signup now).

All the best,
Brian

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