SEATTLE, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- A 79-year-old Seattle fortuneteller was sentenced to 1 1/2 years in jail for bilking a brokenhearted woman out of $220,000.
The woman, who said she is too embarrassed to reveal her name, borrowed the money from her parents' retirement fund in an attempt to win back her boyfriend, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Sunday.
Fortuneteller Sophie Evon and her daughter-in-law demanded increasing amounts of money in exchange for rituals involving lighting candles and burning leaves, the newspaper said.
To come up with the cash, their victim borrowed money from her parents, who live in China and don't know the money is missing, the newspaper report said.
Since the scam went wrong in 1999, Evon allegedly was living on the run using the cash she gained from her scheme. She was caught in Canada.
Evon's daughter-in-law was earlier sentenced to 1 1/2 in prison.