Ohio 'psychic' sentenced to prison for stealing from clients

A so-called “psychic” who took more than a million dollars from clients she tricked into financing her extravagant lifestyle is headed to prison.

42-year-old Gina B. Miller was sentenced to eight years behind bars on Thursday following a guilty plea she entered last month on a count of aggravated theft in connection to the scam.

Prosecutors said that the Ohio woman would frighten her clients by telling them that they and their families would be hurt or killed if they didn’t pay her to change their luck.

She told one woman that her grandson wouldn’t survive unless the client paid for Miller’s Cadillac and told another that her horses might die. She also told a separate client that her house was in jeopardy of burning down.

To avoid the bad fortunes, clients paid Miller with a variety of exorbitant items including Rolex watches, diamond rings, cellphones, cars, and more.

The scam ran from August 2001 to September 2015 at Gina's Psychic Studio in Mentor, according to Cleveland.com.

Miller was able to identify the weaknesses of her clients and then ask for additional money to “research” the issues, prosecutors said. She would proceed to tell them that they were cursed and that she needed more financial resources to rid them of the curse.

Police began investigating the claims after a client reported Miller’s operation. An Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation agent then went undercover as a potential client to obtain evidence.

Miller and her defense attorney asked for leniency from the judge. They claimed that Miller is the primary caregiver for two teenage sons, one of whom has a mental illness.

But Judge Vincent A. Culotta hit Miller with the maximum sentence for a second-degree felony at the sentencing.

"Quite simply, you don't deserve leniency," Culotta said. "You deserve to be punished."

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