PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Prosecutors in Montgomery County have charged a pair of Jenkintown fortune tellers for a scheme they said stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from at least two victims.
The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said they first caught wind of the scheme being run out of Jenkintown Psychic Visions on Christmas Eve last year.
They discovered that the owners, Gina Marie Marks, 52, and Steve Nicklas, 40, had convinced one of the victims seeking a psychic phone reading that she was plagued by a powerful curse preventing her from finding love and happiness, and that it would destroy her marriage, business and family if it wasn’t removed.
For 11 months, between Sept. 2022 and Aug. 2023, prosecutors alleged Marks and Nicklas demanded large sums of money and luxury items, including jewelry, clothing, concert tickets and gift cards to cleanse the curse. In total, investigators said the pair stole almost $600,000 from the victim.
According to authorities, a second victim contacted Jenkintown Psychic Visions in June 2023 and was coerced by Marks to provide money, luxury items and personal photos until approximately February of last year. They believe a total of $18,000 was stolen, and that Marks threatened the victim’s personal life and reputation if she didn’t comply with her instructions.
Marks and Nicklas were arrested on Tuesday and face multiple felony charges, including theft by deception, receiving stolen property and many other related crimes. They both posted bail, but will be back in court for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 20.
In a statement to KYW Newsradio, Nicklas’ lawyer, Lauren Wimmer, said her client denies any wrongdoing. “We intend to challenge the accusations vigorously in court, where the facts — not assumptions or headlines — will speak for themselves,” Wimmer wrote.
“I urge the public and the media to withhold judgment and respect the presumption of innocence that every person is entitled to under the law.”