Sunday, August 28, 2016

Fortune teller failed to predict her second arrest for obtaining money under false pretenses

A fortune teller in Oklahoma City probably should have seen her arrest coming for the second time. 52-year-old Sonia Lisa Marks, was arrested at around noon on Friday after she was found running a fortune telling company out of her home, officials said. Police said Marks scammed victims out of money with the promise that the money would double by the following week. She also foretold that good things would happen in her victim's lives if they continued to let her tell their fortunes.

After police received tips about Marks running the fortune telling business, officers made appointments with her at Mrs. Maple Psychic Reader, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Marks told one of the officers, who paid $60 for a palm reading and tarot card reading, many fortunes, including that she would have twins - a boy and a girl. Another undercover detective saw Marks several times in late August, and Marks told her that she would find her boyfriend in October. She also told the detective that she needed to have her aura cleansed because she could sense that the detective would not be happy until it was done.



The cleansing cost $125. After having her aura cleansed, the detective told Marks a fake story about how she met a man and asked her if he was the one. Marks said that he was but needed to conduct an $80 reading to confirm the fortune. Marks' tarot card reading foretold that this man was the detective's soul mate and that he would ask her on a date soon. She also said that the detective and the fictitious man's relationship would begin before October because of the cleansing. Marks was arrested on a felony complaint of obtaining money by false pretenses and a misdemeanor complaint of fortune telling.

Friday's arrest marks the second time the supposed soothsayer has been arrested in Oklahoma City. She was booked into the Oklahoma County Jail in November 2014 after she was accused of defrauding clients of nearly $1 million. Marks was relocated to Ohio, where she had been wanted since 1994 for several crimes, including grand theft and corrupt activity. She has been on probation from Hamilton County, Ohio, for six counts of theft following a January 2015 conviction involving fortune telling, officials said. Marks was ordered to pay $187,000 in restitution. Anyone who had money taken from them by Marks is asked to call the Oklahoma City Police Department's Vice Unit.

No comments: