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Police in Pennsylvania have formally charged 25-year-old Billie Loren Mitchell of Kearny, NJ on April 27, 2023, but have yet to apprehend and arraign her, according to a police release on May 9, 2023.
Mitchell runs Psychic World at 501 East Main Street in Palmyra, PA, and claims to be a "Clairvoyant psychic and certified holistic healer," as stated on her Facebook page.
An elderly couple had driven by, seen her sign, and "became curious" so they called the posted number and booked a $50 tarot reading at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
While at the reading, Mitchell pulled the "death card" from the deck and declared that the husband had four months to live — that is unless the couple agreed to pay $500 for Mitchell to "perform some type of cleansing ritual," as stated in the affidavit. They were told the money would cover the cost of the candles and Holy water needed for the ritual, their adult daughter explained to the police.
The husband went and got the money from Members' 1st Bank and gave it to her, then he stayed with her as his wife waited in the car, as detailed in the affidavit.
The husband was unable to really explain what happened to his wife, daughter, or the police, but soon Mitchell was texting the wife to come back at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 26 for another ritual "just for her," but the wife decided to skip it, the police explained in the affidavit.
Then things got weird— or weirder, she kept texting the couple demanding $8,000 and claimed she already purchased $1,700 worth of candles and Holy water for the wife's ritual, so around 2:40 p.m. on March 2, 2023, their daughter called the Palmyra Borough Police to formally file a theft or fraud complaint.
The following day Patrolman Brandon R. Sponaugle and Officer Miller went to Psychic World and after waiting in the lobby for about an hour they met a woman matching Mitchell's description and searched her purse with her consent, finding multiple IDs for Billie Mitchell of Kearny, NJ.
The next day Sponaugle called Mitchell to ask some questions, but she claimed to be in a hospital in New York receiving pain medicine for an unknown reason, the police explained in the affidavit. She said "that nothing would (affect) her mental function" but she did not remember the couple— then said they came to her "complaining of demons in their house," as stated in the affidavit. She explained to Sponaugle that her credit card reader was down, that's why they paid her in cash for crystals and as part of a house "blessing" but said she was fine with offering the couple a refund if they were "not happy with the services" or give them free services for a year.
On April 25, Sponaugle received the daughter's email with screenshots of the texts from the business number, which is the same number he used to contact Mitchell when she supposedly was in New York.
On April 27 a complaint was filed for the charge of fortune telling which is a third-degree misdemeanor defined as follows, according to Pennsylvania law:
“A person is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree if he pretends for gain or lucre, to tell fortunes or predict future events, by cards, tokens, the inspection of the head or hands of any person, or by the age of anyone, or by consulting the movements of the heavenly bodies, or in any other manner, or for gain or lucre, pretends to effect any purpose by spells, charms, necromancy, or incantation, or advises the taking or administering of what are commonly called love powders or potions, or prepares the same to be taken or administered, or publishes by card, circular, sign, newspaper or other means that he can predict future events, or for gain or lucre, pretends to enable anyone to get or to recover stolen property, or to tell where lost property is, or to stop bad luck, or to give good luck, or to put bad luck on a person or animal, or to stop or injure the business or health of a person or shorten his life, or to give success in business, enterprise, speculation, and games of chance, or to win the affection of a person, or to make one person marry another, or to induce a person to make or alter a will, or to tell where money or other property is hidden, or to tell where to dig for treasure, or to make a person to dispose of property in favor of another.”
Based on the criminal complaint and affidavit no refund or "year of services" was ever given, and Mitchell's whereabouts also appear to be unknown.
Mitchell is expected to appear at a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Carl R Garver at 8 a.m. on May 25, 2023.
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