Woman Accused of Lifting Clients’ Valuables, Not Evil Spells

In bedrooms that doubled as makeshift sanctuaries, her former clients say, Olga Cruz Diaz would kneel before an altar and beckon evil spirits to lift their spells on the forlorn-looking women who came to her for spiritual help.

The women claim that Diaz promised that they would be cured if they visited her daily for at least a week, praying and chanting for the return of the “good spirit.” She also told the women that they would need to bring jewelry, police say--lots of it.

Cash would also help purge evil spirits, as might credit cards, expensive clothing, VCRs and bank account books, investigators say. According to authorities, she told the women that she would give back the valuables as soon as the curse was lifted.

But police say that when the women returned to claim their belongings--in some cases their life savings--Diaz and the valuables were gone.

Over a period of more than two months, authorities say, Diaz bilked at least seven Los Angeles-area women out of more than $200,000 in jewelry, cash and other valuables, moving three times under three aliases.

On Wednesday, police arrested Diaz, 35, on suspicion of grand theft and seized more than $100,000 in allegedly stolen valuables in her North Hollywood home. She was jailed in lieu of $400,000 bail at the Lynwood station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and is scheduled to be arraigned today in Compton Municipal Court, Sheriff’s Detective Armando Rea said.

Among Diaz’s known aliases were Marisol Juarez, Elena Rosas and Blanca Hernandez, he said.

Besides the seven women who filed complaints, Rea said, there are possibly many other victims whom Diaz bilked of tens of thousands of dollars. Police searching the woman’s house found a receipt showing that Diaz had paid $189,900 in cash for the home, he said.

The bulk of the valuables were stolen from six Lynwood residents while Diaz rented a house there in May, Rea said. The seventh victim lives in Hollywood, where Diaz rented a house until moving to North Hollywood in mid-June, he said. The Hollywood woman lost more than $21,000, including her savings and that of her husband and mother, the detective said.

“Each of the victims went to her several times,” Rea said. “She convinced them to bring larger and larger amounts because she needed to pray to the gods a little more.”

In one case, Diaz approached a seamstress gardening outside her Lynwood home and told the woman that she was under a curse, said the victim’s daughter, who asked not to be named.

“She said, ‘Let me give you my card and you can see me,’ ” the daughter recalled. “She made believe that she was a Gypsy, that she had magical powers, that my mother’s profit was going to double.”

The daughter said she tried to persuade her mother not to believe the woman, but she visited Diaz’s home and lost $20,000 in jewelry, $300 in cash and more than $400 worth of clothing. The daughter said her mother brought the valuables home each day after visiting Diaz, but on the last day Diaz asked the woman to leave the property so it could “sleep overnight in the spirit’s mouth.”

The next day, Diaz was gone along with the victim’s jewelry, cash and clothing, Rea said. Most of the woman’s valuables were among the property seized after Diaz’s arrest and were returned Wednesday, the daughter said.

Another victim, Gloria Lopez of Lynwood, said she learned of Diaz through a friend who had gone to see the woman to have her fortune told. Lopez said Diaz asked that she bring $20,000 in jewelry and $5,000 in cash. Lopez never saw the valuables again until most of her jewelry was returned to her on Wednesday, she said.

Times staff writer Steve Padilla contributed to this story.