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Florida who falsely accused Lohan of assault

Stacy Caputo says she gave a South Florida "psychic" more than $2 million over a five year period and doubts that she will ever get any of that money back.

Caputo Perfect Quality Louis Vuitton Replica said she believed for a long time that the psychic, a woman known as Tiffany Ava Mitchell, was giving the money to God and to charities as part of a mission to clear Designer Louis Vuitton Replica Handbags "negativity" and "bad energy" from Caputo's life.

Mitchell seemed to be a quiet, churchgoing young woman who was financially struggling to raise two young children with her husband, Caputo said, and the women talked about scriptures at Mitchell's storefront psychic businesses in Palm Beach and West Palm Beach and by the pool near Mitchell's cramped Discount Replica Louis Vuitton Bags apartment.

Caputo said she was shocked when she saw the woman she knew as "Ava" on a celebrity gossip TV show in November 2012. Mitchell, clasping a Louis Vuitton bag, was surrounded by paparazzi as she accused troubled celebrity Lindsay Lohan of slugging her in a hip nightclub in high quality designer replica handbags Manhattan. Police later said video footage revealed no assault.

Caputo, who lives in Connecticut, said that's when she began to doubt Mitchell and question if her money was really going to charity. Mitchell wouldn't answer her questions, she said.

"I started asking her for receipts," said Caputo, now 45. " 'Show me what you did with the money' I really thought there would be a homeless shelter with my name over the replica louis vuitton handbags door. She just said she had to pray on it, but she never gave me any receipts and she never explained where the money went."

Caputo first reported her concerns to the Palm Beach Police Department, but Detective Keith Medeiros said Monday that he sent her to West Palm Beach police because the financial transactions allegedly took place there.

Caputo said West Palm Beach detectives later told her that her allegations were too weak to file criminal charges, but she hopes 1:1 replica handbags her story might encourage other people to come forward if they believe they were misled.

"It's a shameful type of thing to admit, but I don't think I have a legal leg to stand on to replica louis vuitton get that money back," said Caputo. "If people are more aware of this, they'll be less likely to get taken."

A woman who identified herself as Mitchell's assistant, Cindy, returned calls from a reporter on Thursday and Friday but said she couldn't contact Mitchell.

Caputo said she was in replica louis vuitton bags a consignment store in Palm Beach in 2006 when a young woman approached her, said she had a premonition about her, gave her a business card and urged her to get a psychic reading.

Caputo said she was a wealthy Realtor at the time, but vulnerable and deeply unhappy with her life and failing marriage.

Still, she waited almost a year before getting a reading in 2007 from "Ava," a Palm Beach County psychic who said she was the sister of the woman who approached her in the store.

Much of what "Ava" told her rang true, Caputo said. Caputo said she felt empty despite her wealth and was totally open to divesting herself of cash and assets that did not make her happy. "Ava" advised fake designer bags her to sell her properties and volunteered to give the money to God for charitable work.

"It was more than $2 million I gave her," Caputo said. "I'd give her whatever I was told she needed but I never asked for receipts and I never questioned what charitable causes the money was going to."

"Ava said she was giving it to God and God would give it back to me," said Caputo. "We can't prove that she didn't give it to God."

replica louis vuitton handbags Caputo drew hope from the recent trial of Rose Marks, a Fort Lauderdale woman convicted on federal charges that she was the family ringleader of a $17.8 million psychic fraud conspiracy that ripped off clients for years. Eight members of Marks' family reached plea agreements with prosecutors on related allegations.

One of the keys to the Marks family convictions was that prosecutors were able to high quality replica handbags china prove that Marks and the female members of her family failed to return money and other valuables to clients after promising them they would get it back once it was cleansed of negative energy.

But it can be difficult to get police and prosecutors to pursue criminal charges in cases where the allegations amount to a "he said, she said."

Bob Nygaard, a Boca Raton based private investigator who works with people who feel they were victimized by psychic or fortune teller frauds, said many police officers and prosecutors are too quick to dismiss or reject such complaints.

"There's just a bias against the victims. A lot of people feel, 'Well, they gave the psychic the money. Why is that law enforcement's problem?' " said Nygaard, who is not involved in Caputo's case. "The real issue is you don't have to prove whether people have psychic powers or whether evil spirits exist, you just have to find evidence of a fraud."

Federal and state prosecutors in Broward and Palm Beach counties have prosecuted several psychic fraud cases in recent years, resulting in plea agreements, prison and probation sentences, and court ordered restitution payments.

Broward Assistant State Attorney Don Tenbrook said victims of such frauds are often well educated and include lawyers, doctors and executives.

"The one thing they all have in common is they are very vulnerable because they're going through a very difficult time in their lives bereavement, illness or divorce and they're desperate," Tenbrook said.

Though some people judge the victims, Tenbrook said his office makes decisions on whether to prosecute based purely on the evidence and whether they can prove fraud if there was a false promise or a misrepresentation of a fact.

"We see people who promise they can remove a curse from money by praying over it or placing it on an altar and then return it," Tenbrook said. "I have yet to have a case where they actually return the money. These are nothing other than garden variety scams and they can be prosecuted as a crime."

Palm Beach State Attorney Dave Aronberg said prosecutors can only file criminal charges if they believe there is "a reasonable likelihood of conviction." His prosecutors review psychic fraud allegations in the same way they examine all other allegations, he said, to make sure there is sufficient evidence that the law was broken, that witnesses are credible and that the statute of limitations has not run out.

His office recently filed felony charges against Stephanie Thompson, also known as Stephanie Lee, 23, of Lighthouse Point, fake louis bag alleging she defrauded a grieving woman out of $100,000 at a Boca Raton psychic store. Boca Raton police say Thompson told the woman she would perform "cleansing" rituals on the money and return most of it, but blew the cash gambling at a casino.

"When you are dealing with allegations about the supernatural, it presents problems in proving your case so you stick to the hard evidence that proves a fraud took place or that a defendant violated the commitment they made," Aronberg said.