Scammer psychic’s hearing delayed: sick mother-in-law

This is quite the story about a scammer. It's too bad that there are so many duped victims in her wake.

Psychic's hearing delayed over her unpaid attorney's absence
Excuse of spending her legal defense money on sick mother-in-law familiar, according to clients' complaints to police

Boca Raton News
Published Friday, July 1, 2005 1:00 am
by By Sean Salai

Convicted fraudster and gypsy psychic Linda Marks showed up in county court Thursday with plenty of excuses and a "not guilty" outburst, but no lawyer.

An arraignment and three-hour final probation hearing for the Boca Winds resident was postponed until July 14 after she and her husband revealed they had not paid their defense attorney Samuel J. Montesino to represent them in court and asked for two more weeks to raise the money.

Marks, a roaming psychic, has allegedly taken millions of dollars from poor, elderly and dying Floridians with the promise to "cleanse it of evil spirits." But in court on Thursday, she said she had spent all her legal defense money on funeral arrangements for her mother-in-law, whom she claimed was admitted to a hospital emergency room "three or four weeks ago."

"We thought my mother-in-law was going to die," Marks, 57, told Judge Jorge Labarga in a trembling voice.

Judge Labarga granted Marks' request despite showing visible impatience about the hearing, which was scheduled immediately her April 21 arrest for violating her five-year probation with "repeat offenses."

"This is court, this is the judicial system. This is not Burdines, where you spend it when you have it," Labarga told her.

Judge Labarga said Montesino had not filed any legal papers on Marks' behalf after representing her at the initial bond hearing in April. He promised not to continue the arraignment and final hearing beyond July 14, ordering Marks to either find a lawyer or represent herself.

Prosecutor Preston Mighdoll, who found out Wednesday that Marks had not paid her lawyer when he called Montesino, said the postponement "changes nothing."

Boca attorney Barry Silver, representing 12 people who say Marks took two million dollars from them in a separate lawsuit, disagreed and made a last-ditch effort to stop the hearing's postponement.

"I'm concerned about how she's going to raise the money. The only way she raises money is by ripping people off," Silver told Labarga.

Labarga replied, "I'm not ready to cross that bridge."

According to police reports, Marks has worked as a gypsy psychic for several years in South Florida, always using the same approach: She tells her clients they were cursed in a previous life, takes their money to "cleanse it" and then claims she spent the cash on a sick mother-in-law when victims start asking for the money back.

Her April arrest stemmed from the complaint of a poor, elderly Boynton woman who said she mortgaged her house to give $38,000 to Marks over a four-month period last autumn. The woman found Marks in a penny-saver advertisement, according to police.

Prior to her 2002 conviction on charges of insurance fraud, Marks and her husband James ran a business called "The Psychic Shop" in Delray Beach. She was also accused of taking $300,000 from a dying man, although prosecutors did not charge her for it.

Clad in a pink tank top, Marks spoke in an unknown accent and addressed the judge as "Herr honor" as she took the stand on Thursday.

Marks' theatrics peaked when she exclaimed "not guilty" into the microphone before being cut off by her husband James, who covered the microphone with his hand.

Her July 14 hearing will be held at 8:30 am in courtroom 10G at the Palm Beach County courthouse on Dixie Highway in West Palm.

She faces up to 15 years in prison for the Boynton-based charges of insurance fraud, false report of a non-existent crime and grand theft. She will also have answer to Judge Labarga for violating her 2002 probation agreement.

The last known address for Marks and her husband was 22492 Swordfish Drive in west Boca Raton, according to police reports.

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