Upper East Side Psychic Conned Woman for More Than $62K Over 'Demon Baby': Officials

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A clairvoyant crook operating on the Upper East Side is facing charges after stealing more than $60,000 from a woman in an elaborate con.

Victoria Nicholes — also known as Psychic Lisa — has been charged with grand larceny after stringing along a woman in a scam for more than a year, according to a criminal complaint filed by the New York District Attorney.

Nicholes, 39, met her victim when the woman came into her psychic business in 2013, according to the complaint. It was during that routine $10 fortune reading that Nicholes scared the woman into believing she was cursed by a demon, said Bob Nygaard a private investigator hired by the victim.

"[Nicholes] claimed that it was an evil spirit or demon that came from when her mother had a miscarriage," Nygaard told Patch. "That baby that she miscarried, that was the evil spirit or demon."

The victim was experiencing trouble with her marriage at the time she visited Nicholes, which allowed the so-called psychic to exploit her fears, Nygaard told Patch.

"The psychic conned her into believing that unless this evil spirit or demon was removed, her husband would leave her for a younger woman and that she would grow old all alone and never have another successful relationship," Nygaard said.

For the next year, Nicholes was able to convince her victim to pay her for materials needed to perform a ritual to remove the evil spirit.

The victim gave Nicholes $33,000 in cash and a Rolex watch costing more than $30,000, which Nicholes would use to "turn back time" during the ritual, Nygaard said. The victim was also told to provide a list of wishes and a urine sample. Then Nicholes told the victim that she would take all those items to a mysterious church and perform the ritual with a convent of other woman to finally get rid of the demon, Nygaard told Patch.

After this ritual, Nicholes also had the woman purchase a $2,400 tuxedo that would restore the strength of the woman's marriage. At that time the woman became weary and contacted Nygaard to investigate Nicholes.

"There came a time where she finally realized she was just stringing her along over the course of the scam by using her fears that her husband would leave her, that's when she hit rock bottom and contacted me," Nygaard told Patch.

Nygaard — a police officer for 21 years and a private investigator since 2007 — determined that Nicholes' psychic scheme was similar to others that he had investigated in the past and was grounds for criminal prosecution.

During his investigation, Nygaard sent two undercover operatives to Nicholes' business and recorded her accepting money for fortune telling, a crime in New York State. Yes, fortune telling is illegal, though you may not be able to tell when you pass three places advertising it walking down a New York City street.

"On the Upper East Side you see these fortune telling parlors and you see them every couple of blocks," Nygaard said. "A lot of people look at these shops as just a mom and pop shop, but the average shop we estimate brings in over $350,000 a year and a lot of times these places are part of criminal enterprises."

Nicholes is currently being held on $75,000 bail and is due in court on Sept. 16.

Photo: Flickr user Ricardo Rosado via creative commons