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After receiving and investigating a complaint from the woman, Bedford Police detectives arrested 44-year-old Janet Lee of Scarsdale, also known as "the Bedford Psychic" and the "Greenwich Psychic."
She was charged with third-degree grand larceny, a Class D felony. She was subsequently arraigned and released on her own recognizance.
Other complaints have been received in Greenwich and Mount Pleasant regarding Lee’s business, according to Bedford Police. She also has an open case in Mount Pleasant regarding similar charges.
The Bedford Hills woman, 64, turned to Lee in June, saying that her fulltime job allows "for little time to pursue my dreams" of being a writer and filmmaker, according to a statement provided to Daily Voice by private investigator Bob Nygaard, whose services the alleged victim enlisted.
"Even though I whittle away at making progress towards my dreams, it never seems like enough," the woman stated. "I have been very despondent lately that my life was not what I really wanted. I have been single ever since my divorce in 1981.
"I am completely self-supporting and always work very hard to earn what I have, which is very little. My only savings was my IRA in the amount of approximately $11,600, a little nest egg that gave me a small sense of security. I wanted to know a way to transition from my present job to my dream job faster. Also, in the back of my mind was the desire to get married again."
The woman says the fortune teller told her during a $150 reading on June 28 that she had been a "great healer" in ancient Egypt "had been a great healer who sat on a mountaintop and never spoke. People would supposedly trek up the mountaintop to be healed and I would just lay my hands on them and heal them."
"Janet Lee told me that on one occasion, a man came to me to be healed of an injured leg but that when I bent down to heal him, I saw that he had injured his leg as a result of raping two children," the woman said. "Janet said that I spoke the word 'No' and refused to heal the man, making him furious.
"Janet claimed that I lost my gift of healing as a result of this alleged incident and that the man became a dark force, promised revenge on me, and that he would never let me be truly happy."
The woman said she then gave the entire amount in the IRA and quit her job to help cleanse’ herself.
Shortly after, the woman learned by an Internet search that Lee had been indicted last year for using a stolen identity and forged documents to apply for and obtain an apartment in SoHo in a scam similar to the one she says she was victimized by this past summer.
Lee pleaded not guilty to grand larceny and scheme to defraud in June following another alleged fortune-telling scam in Mount Pleasant.
In addition, a Greenwich woman accused Lee of conning her out of $32,900 after telling her she’d discovered “terrible darkness” around her during a 2015 Tarot-card reading.
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