Fortune tellers and psychics have been around for ages.
According to YouGov, a global public opinion and data company, one out of every five Americans say they have consulted a fortune teller or psychic at some point in their lives.
But a Florida fortune teller gave one reading that could land her in prison for life.
Humans have always been interested in discovering what the future holds for them.
Many people turn to fortune tellers to try and learn what their future looks like.
A Pew Research study found that six out of 10 U.S. adults believe in at least one form of spiritual/psychic ideologies.
Carola Mitchell, 52, is a Florida woman who claims to be a fortune teller.
Mitchell visited the home of Judith Ramirez last month to allegedly offer her fortune teller services to the family.
“I hear somebody knock at the door, so I open the door,” Ramirez said.
Mitchell asked Ramirez and her mother-in-law where the nearest place was to get Mexican food and requested a glass of water.
Once inside, Mitchell started pitching her fortune telling services to Ramirez.
“She said something about how she could read her hand,” Ramirez said. “I said ‘no I’m not interested in that.’ Then she started reading my forehead. I was just like ‘okay.’ I just ignored her.”
However, her mother-in-law opted for a psychic reading from Mitchell.
Once Ramirez went into the other room, Mitchell pulled out a gun and held it to the mother-in-law’s back and started demanding money.
“She told her that if she doesn’t give [her] the money, she was going to hurt us, my baby and I,” Ramirez recalled. “And then she’s like, ‘okay,’ so she gave her the money.”
Mitchell made off with $12,000 in cash from Ramirez.
But her fortune telling abilities did not help her escape law enforcement.
“A neighbor’s surveillance camera captured Mitchell in her white Nissan Rogue leaving the mobile home park near 3rd Avenue SE and 21st Street SE in Ruskin,” Fox13 reported. “Deputies eventually tracked her down.”
According to the arrest affidavit, Mitchell said she “drives around Hispanic communities and knocks on doors to offer her fortune-telling and spirit services.”
Deputies said she uses this as “a ruse to gain entry into victim’s homes to commit robberies or thefts of cash and jewelry.”
“It’s really scary, because [my] mother-in-law, when she talks about it, she still cries,” Ramirez said. “The money is gone, but we’re happy that we are okay, and nothing happened to us.”
Police arrested Mitchell and charged her with kidnapping and armed robbery, which both carry possible life sentences.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
