A Southern California couple faces grand theft charges after they allegedly conned a man out of almost $1 million to break a "love curse."
28-year-old Tarzana psychic April Lee and her husband Michael Johnson, 32, were charged on Thursday after their November arrest in Northern California, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.
Lee and Johnson currently await their court hearing, and are free on bail, according to the Associated Press.
The couple reportedly swore they could take away a curse that they insisted was ailing 25-year-old Bryan James. Lee told authorities that the curse was holding James back from joining with his one true love.
Lee and Johnson reportedly told James that they could end the curse if he handed over a hefty fistful of cash to have Lee reverse it.
James allegedly gave almost $927,000 to the couple over the span of two years. According to CBS Los Angeles, James borrowed some of the funds from his mother and various members of family.
But as time went on, James became suspicious of Lee and Johnson's actions. He took on a private investigator who nabbed the duo's attempts to grab $500,000 from James in a Santa Clara property exchange.
"People who do this are always looking for victims who are going through career issues, health issues or love issues," James' private investigator Bob Nygaard told the Los Angeles Daily News. "He had all three. So it basically made him the perfect mark."
