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Bozola
Skeptic Friend
USA
166 Posts |
 Posted - 07/27/2001 : 10:20:09
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Bad Psychic!
Failure to deliver psychic services gets woman 4 years in prison
Pam Louwagie
Star Tribune
Wednesday, July 25, 2001
She probably should have seen it coming.
A woman from Albert Lea, Minn., who advertised psychic services in tabloid newspapers, collected money from customers, then apparently didn't deliver on her promises was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to more than four years in prison.
Merna J. Sunde, 67, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering in a scheme that prosecutors say bilked more than 100 people of more than $465,000.
She was sentenced to four years and three months in prison and ordered to pay $465,161 in restitution.
A codefendant, Scott B. Taylor, 37, was sentenced Tuesday to two years and three months in prison and ordered to pay $82,410 in restitution. A student at Minnesota State University Mankato, Taylor was convicted in November of five counts of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to launder money.
The advertisements offered to use psychic powers to return lost lovers, advance careers, provide winning lottery numbers and remove hexes, curses and spells, for a fee, officials said. Sunde also offered to get people grants for a fee, saying she knew wealthy people and government sources.
When the promises didn't come through, some victims who kept inquiring about the status of services were threatened.
They were told that tragic events would happen in their lives or the lives of their families and friends, the indictment said.
After a grand jury indicted the pair last year, Sunde, who has said she was ordained through a California church, claimed that the government was violating her First Amendment right of religious expression.
But U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson said Tuesday in court in St. Paul that he didn't buy it.
"The court is convinced that this matter clearly falls outside of the First Amendment, that this conduct is criminal conduct under the guise of the First Amendment," Magnuson said before sentencing Sunde.
Instead, he said, it is a case of somebody trying to rip somebody off.
Defense attorney Paul Applebaum argued in court Tuesday that Sunde was trying to deliver the services.
"How does the government know that psychic services weren't provided?" Applebaum said. Referring to one victim who paid Sunde several installments, Applebaum said: "I have to assume if the guy is sending that much money, he must be deriving some benefit from it."
Taylor's attorney, Earl Gray, claimed that Taylor had simply befriended Sunde and let her use a mailbox of his. He said Taylor didn't know the extent of Sunde's operation.
She was originally indicted on 94 counts, but 93 were dismissed in exchange for her guilty plea.
Bozola
- Practicing skeet for the Rapture.
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Valiant Dancer
Forum Goalie
USA
4826 Posts |
Posted - 07/27/2001 : 10:51:00 [Permalink]
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quote:
After a grand jury indicted the pair last year, Sunde, who has said she was ordained through a California church, claimed that the government was violating her First Amendment right of religious expression.
10 bucks says the "California Church" is the Universal Life Church. I got "ordained" there in 1992 for $35 through the mail. She could have also gotten her Doctorate of Divinity for an additional $15. It's original function was to supply ordination documents for non-major religions but fast degenerated into a money making scheme. Heck, the guy who "ordained" me, "ordained" my neighbor's dog. But at least I got the phony-baloney little card saying I'm a priest.
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Tokyodreamer
SFN Regular
USA
1447 Posts |
Posted - 07/27/2001 : 11:17:00 [Permalink]
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Oh dear, does every article about debunked psychics use the ol' "they should have seen it coming" gag? 
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Ma gavte la nata! |
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bestonnet_00
Skeptic Friend
Australia
358 Posts |
Posted - 07/28/2001 : 04:29:08 [Permalink]
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Of course the psychics should have seen it coming.
Unless of course they aren't real psychics.
Radioactive GM Crops.
Slightly above background.
Safe to eat.
But no activist would dare rip it out.
As they think it gives them cancer. |
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Espritch
Skeptic Friend
USA
284 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2001 : 23:35:23 [Permalink]
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quote:
Oh dear, does every article about debunked psychics use the ol' "they should have seen it coming" gag?
Unless they claim to be physic atrologers in which case it is also permissible to use the ol' "Was it written in the stars?" gag. 
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