A Hartford woman says a Sioux Falls psychic adviser who promised to bring her estranged husband back scammed her out of $30,500.
Jane Stockwell filed a lawsuit last week in Minnehaha County Circuit Court against Katherine Adams, who used to run Psychic Experience at 2012 S. Minnesota Ave. in Sioux Falls. Stockwell wants her money back plus at least $50,000 in punitive damages.
According to the complaint, Stockwell hired Adams in March 2006 to provide psychic services, personal counseling and related products. The business relationship ended in October 2007 after Stockwell made payments totaling $30,500.
"(Adams) represented to (Stockwell) ... that these services and products would effect the return of (Stockwell's) husband to their marriage," the complaint states. "(Adams) made these representations knowing that they were not true or had no reasonable ground for believing them to be true."
The psychic business now is under different management, and Adams apparently lives in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, Nev. A man who tried to serve the court summons and complaint on Adams was stopped by a security guard at a gate outside her home in June.
Property records show Adams owns the $719,000 home with David Uwanawich, who ran a Henderson business called Psychic Seer from 2002 to 2008. Adams held a license to work as a psychic at his business during the same time.
Both Adams and Uwanawich are named in testimonials on an Association of Certified Psychics Web site that warns consumers about unethical psychics.
Neither could be reached for comment.
According to a May 2006 article in the Business Journal, Adams moved to Sioux Falls from Los Angeles because she had been getting phone calls from clients in the area, and clients usually prefer to talk in person.
Her business cards identified her as a personal love psychic.
"I take it very seriously, helping people with issues in their life," the story quoted Adams as saying.
Stockwell could not be reached, and her lawyer did not return a phone call.
