Psychic To Repay $3.5M To Martha's Vineyard Woman For Exorcisms

BOSTON, MA — A Florida psychic on Thursday agreed to repay $3.5 million to an elderly Martha's Vineyard woman for "repeated exorcisms" after the psychic admitted to evading taxes, prosecutors said. Sally Ann Johnson, 41, pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to interfering with tax laws. She will be sentenced in January and faces up to 3 years in prison.

Acting U.S. Attorney William Weinreb said from 2007 to 2014, the Martha's Vineyard woman paid Johnson more than $3.5 million "to purportedly perform spiritual cleansing and healing services to rid the woman of demons through repeated exorcisms." (Sign up for free daily newsletters and breaking news alerts from Martha's Vineyard Patch.)

Weinreb said Johnson concealed the income from the Internal Revenue Service.

"Johnson used an alias and directed the woman to send payments to at least three different bank accounts with which Johnson was associated, including an account in another person’s name," Weinreb said in a statement. "Johnson then withdrew large portions of the woman’s payments from the accounts in cash. In addition, Johnson accrued substantial charges on a credit card held in the name of the elderly woman, who ultimately paid the credit card bills, thereby concealing from the IRS the true extent of Johnson’s income. Neither Johnson nor any of the businesses she operated filed a tax return or paid taxes on the income she received from the woman."

Johnson owned several businesses, including "Flatiron Psychic," "Psychic Match, Inc." and "Psychic Spiritual Salon, Inc.," Weinreb said. She offered “psychic readings,” “spiritual cleansing & strengthening,” and “meditation & healing," according to Weinreb. Johnson had several aliases, including Angela Johnson, Angelia Johnson and Sally Reed.

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