Seer-suckers angry
Seethe as psychics who swiped $1M get probation
“Crime pays,” complained a victim of a pair of Midtown psychics who got no jail time Thursday on fraud, grand larceny and other charges stemming from their theft of more than $1 million from their clients.
“How can this be?” wailed another victim as she chased Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Michael Perez out of the courtroom after the hearing.
The victims were upset over Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro’s seemingly light sentence for Ann Thompson — aka “Psychic Zoe” — and her underling, Sarah Demetrio.
Both got five years’ probation and both were ordered to repay their victims a portion of what they stole.
Both wore flip-flops to their sentencing.
Two of their victims asked Carro to impose a more substantial sentence for the confidence crimes they said drained them of their life savings as they entered retirement.
“Respectfully, Ann Thompson often bragged to me that she should have been a lawyer or a judge since she knew how to game the system. Was she right?” Thompson’s female victim said as tears streamed down her cheeks.
The female victim, who disguised herself in court with a white wig and asked the Daily News to keep her identity anonymous, said she met Thompson during a trip to the city from her home in Canada.
She said the plea deal agreement would ensure she is repaid only $200,000 of the more than $741,000 Thompson stole from her.
“Judging from the number, Ann Thompson made almost 10 times as much money to sit in jail [awaiting trial] for eight months than most prosecutors at the Manhattan district attorney’s office make in one year,” she said.
“I ask you, your honor, where is the justice in that?”
Carro did not let the woman finish reading her statement. He pointed out that the plea deal drafted by the prosecution and defense in the case is ironclad.
“Please give me my money back, sir,” the woman yelled out to Carro as he adjourned the case. “My life depends on this.”
A second victim who spoke at Thursday’s sentencing over an electronic link from his home in the Midwest said Thompson and her deputy soothsayers sought out the weak and vulnerable.
“Ann Thompson convinced me that my son was being tormented by an evil spirit and that was causing all the relationship problems we were experiencing,” said the man, who also requested anonymity.
“Looking back on the whole situation, I understand how ridiculous this all sounds,” he added.
The male victim from the Midwest described the offer drafted by Manhattan DA Cy Vance Jr.’s office as “a travesty of justice” that will only embolden bad actors in the psychic industry.
“Here is what she has learned: Crime pays — and it pays very well,” he said of Thompson.
When it was her turn to speak, Thompson said she felt contrite.
“I never knew how much I hurt them until I was in jail,” she said. “I don’t expect her to accept my apology, but I hope maybe she will find it in her heart someday. I am very, very sorry.”
Demetrio declined to say anything before she was sentenced.
When Thompson pleaded guilty in April, she admitted that she, Demetrio, and her daughter, Jaycie George, convicted their clients that they suffered from psychic maladies and could only be cured by paying her for costly mystical rituals.
“In fact, I do not have any kind of psychic power,” Thompson said when she pleaded guilty. The psychic maladies and the rituals that would cure them were also fiction, Thompson admitted.
But her soothsaying was enough to net Thompson and her psychic crew more than $1 million from more than 20 different clients between February 2013 and August 2018, prosecutors said.
Frank Rothman, a lawyer representing the women’s victims, said his clients were happy with the deal.
“Look, I don’t know how people fall for these scams,” Rothman added. “I’ll never get it.”