{"id":331232,"date":"2026-06-10T21:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T21:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/331232\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T21:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T21:50:09","slug":"north-texas-couple-accused-of-running-2-5-million-fortune-teller-scam-involving-curse-cleansing-prosecutors-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/331232\/","title":{"rendered":"North Texas couple accused of running $2.5 million fortune\u2011teller scam involving “curse cleansing,” prosecutors say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two North Texas<\/a> residents who ran a years\u2011long fortune\u2011teller fraud scheme<\/a> were arrested this week, accused of posing as psychics who could “cleanse” romantic curses and stealing more than $2.5 million from emotionally vulnerable people across the country, according to federal prosecutors.<\/p>\n

\"Gavel<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n

Bridgette Doreen Evans, 47, and her partner, Vinnie John Uwanawich, 44, of Frisco, made their initial appearance Wednesday in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas.<\/p>\n

The pair faces charges of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, as well as four counts of wire and mail fraud each.<\/p>\n

“These perpetrators of ‘fortune teller fraud’ came into the lives of these victims at a time when their judgment was clouded by emotional loss and feelings of hopelessness,” said Charles Neil Floyd, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Ms. Evans preyed upon their needs, convincing victims that she could ‘remove a curse’ and help them find love,” Floyd said. “In truth, her scheme was simply to help herself to their wealth, leaving them further devastated.”<\/p>\n

A victim in Washington state sent more than $2 million for the “cleansing” of an alleged curse, prosecutors said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Prosecutors describe alleged tactics<\/p>\n

According to federal prosecutors, Evans and Uwanawich used fake identities and staged “psychic rituals” to convince victims that heartbreak and loneliness were signs of a supernatural curse \u2013 one that only costly “cleansing” ceremonies could remove.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say they targeted people through social\u2011media ads aimed at those dealing with grief, divorce, or isolation, drawing in victims at moments of heightened emotional vulnerability.<\/p>\n

Millions taken from victims<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege the couple stole at least $2.5 million from at least three victims between April 2021 and July 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their method involved convincing victims that their “curse” was tied to their finances and that they needed to liquidate assets and send cash or gold coins for “cleansing.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Only small amounts were ever returned, prosecutors say, to build trust.<\/p>\n

Aliases and continued scheme<\/p>\n

According to the indictment, Uwanawich managed bank accounts, sold gold coins, and vouched for Evans to help facilitate the fraud.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Evans operated under multiple aliases \u2013 including Jolene Travis, Joy John, and Joy Paige \u2013 in part because of prior convictions for psychic\u2011fraud schemes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say the scheme continued even while Evans was incarcerated in Florida, with co\u2011conspirators using her alias to keep the operation running.<\/p>\n

Additional losses detailed<\/p>\n

Additional victims, prosecutors say, sent $86,000 in electronic payments or were persuaded to take out loans, buy a Corvette for Evans, and hand over credit cards.<\/p>\n

If convicted, Evans and Uwanawich each face up to 20 years in federal prison.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The FBI is seeking additional victims through ic3.gov.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dane A. Westermeyer of the Western District of Washington.<\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two North Texas residents who ran a years\u2011long fortune\u2011teller fraud scheme were arrested this week, accused of posing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331233,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[294,430,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-331232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-crime","tag-north-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}