A Key West man was being held Friday in a bizarre case of alleged fraud involving a Swiss tourist, a tarot card reader and a bowl of phony cash burned to appease evil spirits.
Louis George, 61, was being held on $1 million bond at the Monroe County Jail after his arrest Thursday while authorities searched for his daughter-in-law and alleged partner, 41-year-old Paula Marion, sheriff's department spokeswoman Becky Herrin said.Marion ran a tarot card and palm reading shop in a small house on the island's main tourist strip, historic Duval Street. She and George allegedly used fake money to convince a wealthy Swiss woman to pay more than $175,000 to "appease the bad spirits around her," the sheriff's office said.
George was the leader of a family of gypsies, detective Chris Scott said. Marion has about 50 aliases and is currently using the nickname Peaches, Scott added.
The fraud allegedly began in the summer of 1995 when Marion befriended 52-year-old Yvonne Cavin of Switzerland with offers of free psychic readings, the sheriff's department said.
Marion allegedly convinced Cavin that she would have to put up $15,000 in cash to appease spirits she believed were plaguing her. The psychic pretended to loan Cavin the cash so it could be burned in a ceremonial bowl, but instead burned counterfeit money as Cavin watched, the department said.
"This was done in the backyard of the house at dead of night, with a few candles around. The bills were burned one at a time," Scott said.
Cavin later wired the psychic the equivalent amount of money to reimburse her.
A few months later, Marion allegedly told Cavin she would have to put up even more money, $160,000, to appease the spirits again, and she and George "loaned" Cavin the sum, left in a briefcase on the altar of a Miami church.
Marion told the Swiss woman she could not look in the case or it would invalidate the ceremony, according to the sheriff's department, and Cavin again wired money to reimburse the pair.