Psychic’s arrest could violate probation

WEST PALM BEACH — Linda Marks probably didn’t see this in her future: a potential trip to prison.

Marks, 57, claims to be a psychic. She achieved notoriety when more than a dozen former clients sued her, saying she scammed them out of more than $1 million when they visited her Delray Beach business.

She and her husband, James, also pleaded guilty in December 2002 to falsely reporting her car stolen in order to defraud her insurance company. They were placed on five years’ probation.

Now the state attorney’s office is seeking to revoke Linda Marks’ probation and send her to prison, citing another arrest in April in which she is accused of bilking another customer.

A hearing on rescinding her probation had been scheduled Thursday, but was delayed while Linda Marks sorts out who her attorney will be.

In her latest arrest, Linda Marks is accused of duping Anna Stek, 69, of Boynton Beach out of $38,000.

Stek told police she went to Linda Marks — who used the name “Laura” — for readings between July and October of last year. Linda Marks told her she was evil in another life and was cursed, along with her family, Stek said.

Stek gave Linda Marks $8,000 in cash to “cleanse” and lift the curse. That was followed by an additional $10,000 cash advance on her Visa card.

Linda Marks then told Stek she needed another $14,000 to cure the curse on her daughter, who supposedly had AIDS and would die if the money weren’t paid, police said. Stek said she mortgaged her house to come up with the money.

Stek was supposed to get the “cleansed” money returned, but Linda Marks kept putting her off, she said. She didn’t immediately report this to police, she said, because she feared for her daughter’s safety from the supposed curse.

Linda Marks was living in Boynton Beach at the time, and she told police in that city that Stek’s money was a loan to her to pay some bills and that she would repay it.

A Boynton Beach detective spoke by phone with James Marks, who said “we have agreed to pay the man back $2,000 per month until it is paid off,” according to court records.

When the detective said the victim was a woman, “he suddenly became quiet and the conversation was ended when he realized there was another ‘debt’ he was referring to,” the detective wrote in a report.

Read Another Article

Another judge withdraws from Kingston case
War of the Worlds (3 stars out of 5)

Related News Articles Topic(s): Psychics Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Psychics Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog