Riverside (CBSLA) – A Riverside man who police say was impersonating a fortune teller is charged Friday with a significant theft for allegedly persuading a lady to pay him greater than $ 50,000 to have her physique off Liberating parasites and liberating them and their household from a curse.
Andres Pena Meneses, 31, was arrested Tuesday and a search of his residence and enterprise revealed a “vital amount of money,” a voodoo doll, tarot playing cards, altars, non secular and satanic gadgets and a small reside snake that police stated Riverside stated Police had used as a part of his fraud.
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(Credit score: Riverside Police)
Meneses’ arrest adopted an investigation right into a “fortune telling enterprise” opened earlier this summer season within the 3500 block of Arlington Avenue in Riverside. One lady instructed police that she visited the shop to have her fortune learn by a person she known as a Colombian nationwide by the identify of “Carlos”. She claimed that she paid Carlos a number of hundred {dollars} to rid her physique of parasites that he believed had invaded her physique.
In line with police, Carlos continued to contact the girl – as soon as to elucidate that she and her household had been cursed and later to persuade them that their kids had been in bother. On account of these claims, police say Carlos satisfied the girl to pay him greater than $ 50,000.
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Recognized by investigators as the person referred to as Carlos, Meneses discovered that he had been arrested and convicted in Chicago in late 2019 for posing as a religion healer to steal cash from a number of victims, the corporate stated Police with.
Through the search of the shop, police say a number of clients arrived and instructed them that Meneses and his workers had been reducing open the mattresses he directed them to convey from residence and claiming to discover a reside snake in it, along with demonic gadgets and letters stating their households had been in peril. Different clients instructed police that Meneses marketed his companies on the radio and instructed them they had been cursed and needed to pay cash to do away with illnesses like diabetes, complications, insomnia and nightmares.
Meneses was arrested on suspicion of main theft and theft beneath false pretenses which are crimes. However he has since been launched after placing $ 57,000 on bail.
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Detectives imagine there could also be extra Meneses victims who have not come ahead. Anybody with details about potential scams or Meneses can contact Detective Cory Camp at (951) 353-7117 or e-mail CCamp@RiversideCA.gov.
