Ranch Owners Sue Psychic Who Accused Them Of Murder

This story updates one I wrote about previously, Ranch Owners Sue Psychic For False “Visions” Of Texas Massacre. The owners of the Texas ranch accused of having mass graves by a psychic took her to court. Police raided their property when they received information about it being the site of a massacre containing children’s bodies. After the search, it became apparent it was all a lie.

The couple received a $6.8 million judgment in court. Even though the psychic was lying or just plain mistaken, authorities stated they didn’t regret following up on the tip. They noted that no matter where tips come from, they must look into them to ensure they’re false. However, the ranch owners, Joe Bankson, and Gena Charlton, regret this embarrassment.

That’s why they decided to sue the psychic. The Houston Chronicle reported: “A judge has ordered a self-described psychic who triggered a media frenzy when she told authorities a Liberty County couple had a mass grave on their property to pay the couple $6.8 million. A Dallas County judge issued the judgment May 7 against Presley “Rhonda” Gridley, the sole remaining defendant in a lawsuit filed a year ago.”

Initially, the Texas couple planned to sue seven other individuals, including the police and six major media corporations. However, they eventually dropped the claims against these others, leaving only Gridley. They wanted to sue the police at first because they chose to speak to the media about Gridley’s claims.

The Psychic’s Claims Caused A Tremendous Amount Of Trouble

This action helped sensationalize the psychic’s false allegations. They said, “Over the course of the day, media defendants began to exaggerate and eventually made up facts about Plaintiffs. These included a mass grave on the property containing children’s bodies.” District Court Judge Carl Ginsberg discovered that Gridley dragged Bankston and Charlton’s names in the dirt by creating defamatory statements lying about the massacre.

Judge Ginsberg agreed with the ranch owners and acknowledged that the false claims hurt their reputation. It also exposed them to financial loss, ridicule, and public hatred. The couple added that not only did the police completely trash their house during the raid, but the false accusations also cost them several friends. Unfortunately, it’s not rare for a psychic to give false information to the police.

It happens all too often, especially during high-profile missing person cases. In these instances, self-proclaimed psychics flood the police with hundreds of tips. On the other hand, there have been many cases where psychics have aided in discovering a missing person. However, not everyone who calls themselves a psychic has valid information.

Choosing Who To Listen To Is A Fine Line

There have been times when psychics’ information given to authorities caused distress to the general public. For example, in 2004, a psychic told TSA about a bomb on an American Airlines flight to Dallas, Texas. TSA took the information seriously and, working with the police, scoured the airplane. They even enlisted the help of bomb-sniffing dogs and equipment designed to find bombs but never found anything.

However, the flight still had to be canceled, causing a high inconvenience to the passengers. That pales compared to how frightening the ordeal was for them, though. The case of the Texas ranch highlights the issues that arise when providing accurate information to the authorities. Making a false report is a crime, but police don’t usually prosecute people for it. That is unless the claims are blatantly false or the information was expensive to investigate.

One of the reasons for this is that police don’t want people to be afraid to call in a tip. All tips can be potentially helpful, but people may stop calling if they think they’d get in trouble for not being sure. It’s a delicate balance because the police prefer not to charge someone who honestly felt something was wrong and called it in, but they also don’t want their time, money, and personnel wasted on hoaxes and false information.

It’s uncommon for a psychic to be found guilty and charged in court. Still, hopefully, now that it’s happened, it will set an example for other psychics (and people) who like making claims that they can’t back up. Especially if they only served to humiliate people and cost the authorities money and resources.

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Angela
Angela

Angela Moore founded Psychic Review Online in 2008 after being scammed out of her life savings by a psychic con artist. Since then she has devoted her time to rooting out the frauds and helping people find a real psychic reader.

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