Photo: Unsplash (Courtesy of Bill Oxford)
WTOP News, Oct. 14, 2015
A self-described psychic telling fortunes in Sunnyside apparently failed to foresee her arrest on a warrant from Rockville, Maryland, charging her with fraud.
Erica Ufie, 35, was arrested Oct. 2 near “Sunnyside Psychic” parlor in Queens, where she worked. She will face an extradition hearing in New York, according to Rockville Police Lt. Brian Paul.
Ufie was tracked down by a private investigator hired by a 53-year-old Rockville woman, who accuses the fortune-teller of defrauding her of more than $77,000.
“I sent in an operative into the location to verify she was there,” says Bob Nygaard, a private investigator who specializes in the identification and apprehension of fortune-tellers who engage in fraud.
Convinced that the person inside the Queens psychic parlor was Ufie, the woman for whom he’d been searching for seven months, Nygaard tailed her to a nearby dollar store and then called police.
“To be honest, the New York City Police Department — I had a rough time getting them to make the arrest,” Nygaard says, adding that he remained in phone contact with Rockville police while keeping Ufie under surveillance.
Eventually, Ufie was taken into custody inside a 99 Cents Paradise store in Queens. Nygaard recorded the arrest.
“You go in to do some shopping and you come out with silver bracelets from the NYPD on your wrists. It’s not paradise,” says Nygaard.
Nygaard says fraudulent fortune-telling is a growing problem nationwide.
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7 Comments
In a thoroughly cringeworthy article, I’d like to point out the segment which most makes me shudder:
““You go in to do some shopping and you come out with silver bracelets from the NYPD on your wrists. It’s not paradise,” says Nygaard.””
Hey-o! Bob, you are one clever wordsmith. (Don’t quit your day job just yet.)
You mean Sunnyside psychic yoga aromatherapy life coaching?
Here’s a free fortune for you. A fool and there money are soon parted.
anyone who spends more than $300 for a fortune teller (for a 3hour gig) is a complete idiot, well she probably inherited the money anyway…
Basis? Where is your compassion? (Personally I find it amusing that you think paying $300 for a psychic reading is totally logical, but losing $70k+ to a professional scammer is indicative of “idiocy”)
Awesome
if she offered fortune tellling services and the person was stupid enough to sink 77g on it – im siding w the fortune teller because they are the smarter one.