San Jose, CA- A psychic named Shirley Stanley conned a senior citizen in a scam known as the “Sweetheart Scam.” The 48-year-old con artist stole nearly all of the victim’s life savings. She also scammed another unsuspecting woman out of a large sum of money. She accomplished both of these scams through lies and deceit.
Stanley has been arrested and sentenced to five years in prison. Santa Clara County Superior Court ruled Friday that Stanley was guilty of the charges filed against her. She was also found guilty of contracting without a license. The court also served justice by sentencing her 43-year-old husband, Costello, for knowingly selling defective concrete patios.
He received one year in county jail followed by three years probation. It all started in 2007 when Stanley met a senior male at a San Jose Post Office. According to the District Attorney’s Office, the scammer moved quickly to befriend him. Shortly after meeting, Stanley pretended to be in love with the man, and the two got engaged.
Unfortunately, she was conning him out of his money the whole time. The total amount stolen added up to at least $236,0000.
The con artist got this money from the victim by telling him that her two kids needed costly operations, which was a blatant lie because her children were perfectly healthy. The victim gave her the $236,000 believing it would save her kids’ lives. Prosecutors seized the money from her bank account and returned it to him once they exposed her crimes.
Stanley also conned a different woman from San Jose into giving her $100,000 along with expensive liquor. She told the victim she could exorcise her dead boyfriends’ “evil spirit.” Stanley and Costello lied to the woman by telling her they would use the money to cure her current boyfriend’s drinking problem by donating it to a church. The woman has only received $43,000 of her retirement money since the couple’s arrest.
The court has ordered them to pay the rest at a later time. In 2008, Costello pretended to be a licensed contractor to steal $15,600 from two victims. He sold concrete that he knew was defective to these two individuals, and they have since gotten reimbursed. The arrests happened last summer thanks to the brother of the “sweetheart scam” victim. He came forward to the police to report the suspicious activity after hearing about it from his brother.
I’m so glad that the police have been able to bring another scam artist to justice! Scams like these prove that fake Psychics use mumbo jumbo like “evil spirits” and “curses” to separate you from your money.
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