UPDATED::Seeing Freedom in Their Future, Psychics Reveal All: ‘It’s a Scam, Sir’ - The New York Times

UPDATE:  Psychic Who Bilked Man of More Than $550,000 Is Set Free

A court officer removed the handcuffs that bound the thin wrists of the former fortuneteller, and she raised her hands to wipe away tears, about to leave the courtroom a free woman.

“I’m very sorry for what happened,” the psychic, Priscilla Kelly Delmaro, told the judge.

The sentencing in Manhattan on Tuesday was the culmination of a bizarre crime of deception that stood out even against the backdrop of similar swindles that play out across decks of tarot cards and over crystal balls. The victim in the case, Niall Rice, 33, an online entrepreneur, paid more than $550,000 to Ms. Delmaro, 26, who promised to reunite him with a woman he loved. The ruse continued even after they learned the woman had died.

Ms. Delmaro left the court having served eight months in jail. She will serve four years of probation under the terms of a plea agreement, which leaned heavily in her favor after the credibility of the victim had been called into question.

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That number may soon grow. One psychic, Sylvia Mitchell, 41, who worked in Greenwich Village, is serving a prison term of five to 15 years after a grand larceny conviction in 2013. She will be eligible for a parole hearing in 2017. And this summer, a Times Square psychic, Priscilla Kelly Delmaro, 26, was charged with taking $713,975 from a marketing professional from Brooklyn after promising to reunite him with a woman he loved, even after the man discovered that the woman had died. Ms. Delmaro is in jail awaiting trial.

Reviews of transcripts from several parole hearings in recent years shine a light behind the hanging beads of the psychic parlor. The inmates’ reflections on their careers may give pause to the passer-by willing to pay $20 or $50 or more for a promised peek at the future.

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“It was just going by what they would give you,” she said. “It’s all a scam. It’s by their demeanor. I want to write a book about how Gypsies scam people out of their money.”

“You don’t think there’s any legitimate psychics out there?” she was asked.

“If they are taking your money,” she said, “they are not for real.”

Ms. Mitchell, who does not appear to be related to either of the two Sylvia Mitchells, said that she had no intention of returning to fortunetelling. A parole commissioner reminded her that they had heard that before. Ms. Mitchell had been convicted of grand larceny in 2007 under similar circumstances, and the board had granted her parole several months later.

“We didn’t predict your future correctly last time, did we?” a commissioner asked.

“I guess not,” she replied.

Seeing Freedom in Their Future, Psychics Reveal All: ‘It’s a Scam, Sir’ - The New York Times