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Psychic failed to foresee government would come after her for not paying taxes on $3.5M in fees to cleanse woman of demons

A Florida woman who earned more than $3.5 million over seven years for allegedly cleansing an elderly Martha's Vineyard woman of her demons via repeated exorcisms was sentenced to 26 months in federal prison and ordered to repay all the woman's fees and pay the IRS $725,912 in back taxes, the US Attorney's office in Boston reports.

According to the US Attorney's office, the sentence was for Sally Ann Johnson's guilty plea last fall to a federal charge of attempting to interfere with the administration of the Internal Revenue laws.

Rather than reporting her income to the IRS and paying taxes on it, Johnson took steps to conceal it. Specifically, 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. 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's attorney argued that Johnson, a Romani with a second-grade education, did not "earn" the money because the woman gave most of it to her as a gift in exchange for the psychic help Johnson gave her, and that while the woman may have been an eccentric free spirit - as well as independently wealthy - she was far from senile. In a sentencing request to the judge in the case, he added:

Among Romani beliefs is the belief that Romani women possess certain spiritual and/or psychic abilities. Ms. Johnson’s grandmother, mother, and stepdaughter each have (or had) these abilities.

Ms. Johnson has been a spiritual advisor and psychic for over 20 years. In that time, and excepting the instant allegations by the Government with respect to V.P. [the victim] she has never been accused of defrauding any of her clients. Indeed, despite the instant allegations, Ms. Johnson has continued to serve her clients’ spiritual needs for the entire time she has been under the supervision of pretrial services while this matter has been pending.

Nice try, prosecutors responded, calling for the maximum sentence of three years, plus restitution:

Johnson is a professional psychic. As she herself reported to Probation, "[f]or decades, the defendant has been earning a living as a spiritual therapist and consultant." "Her income," she admits," depends on the services rendered." She charges money for her work, and she spends money on commercial advertising. She has owned and operated a small collection of businesses, each of which charged its clients money for purported psychic or spiritual services.

It is clear Johnson charged Jane Doe money as well - money Doe believed she was paying in order to have Johnson cleanse her of demons. When Johnson asked for between $125,000 and $175,000 in December 2012, Doe wrote in her diary: "What A4 asked for to deal with demons was too much . . . . Apparently, I am getting very low on funds." A few months later, in February 2013, Doe wrote, "Don’t remember timing, but Angela asked for some more money to finish clearing me - and I am very low." And when Doe’s payments stopped, Johnson called Doe repeatedly to collect and to attempt to renew the lucrative relationship (so many times that, in May 2014, Doe sought a harassment prevention order). ... The relationship between payments and purported services is clear: between 2007 and 2014, Doe paid Johnson over $3.5 million in exchange for what she believed was a service. She did not give the money as a gift.

Earlier:
Boston psychic has license revoked.

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Comments

if only she followed this structure, she'd be fine:

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For the record, I always enjoy a good hex or curse being bestowed upon me. I recollect that I got at least four pending and still waiting for retribution.

As for the Demons, they only bother me occasionally when they all get together, get loud & proud, partying all night. Two or three double shots of VO quiets 'em down nicely.

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was she successfully cleared of her demons?

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of all evil, then I'd say yes.

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I cast you out!

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...allegedly cleansing an elderly Martha's Vineyard woman of her demons via repeated exorcisms...

The defendant was still trying to get the victim to agree to more exorcisms when the vic ran out of money. She was successfully cleared of her bank account, but the demons were supposedly still around.

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Persistent little buggers, ain't they.

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where the only requirements are a) to prominently post a price list and b) to not display a neon sign advertising.

Besides, when's the last time you saw the headline "Phychic wins lottery."

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I was speaking about the demons. Should of been more clear.

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I thought "clear" was for body thetans, not demons

We better do another audit ... but I need that check first.

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of exorcisms doesn't do the trick, that to me speaks to the persistence of the demons AND the competence of the psychic.

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are apparently out of her league. But look on the bright side; in prison, she will be able to do exorcisms all day. Prisons have lots of demons. She'll keep busy, and everybody will be better off.

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This makes me think about those psychic ads in the back page of the Boston Metro. The ads are almost humorous.

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headlines announcing "psychic wins lottery."

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They know to claim their winnings through a trust.

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