Elderly Couple Bilked by ‘Gypsy’ Healers

A couple in their 70s were bilked out of $40,000 in cash last week by three so-called “gypsies” bearing promises of curing everything from envy and bad luck to impotence.

Oxnard Police Officer Curtis Smith said that in early November the elderly couple were approached by a woman named “Raquel” who claimed to be an astrologer and personal advisor. According to the woman’s Spanish-language advertisement, Raquel “will solve your problems no matter how difficult.”

Over the next several weeks, Raquel and her two accomplices met with the couple at their West Spruce Street home and convinced them that “in order to be healed a large sum of money would need to be used during a ceremony” at the home, Smith said.

Despite being told by family members the scheme was a fraud, the couple took out a second mortgage on the house to come up with the cash, authorities said.

Then on Friday at 6 p.m., the women returned to the couple’s home to perform a quasi-religious ceremony. At that time, the cash was placed in a black bag.

During the ceremony, the healers switched the bag containing the cash with a similar bag containing torn newspaper, and the victims were told to place the bogus stash under their mattress and leave it there until Raquel returned in two days, Smith said.

The ceremony would culminate with the money being handed back to the elderly couple, at which point they were promised to have their illnesses cured and their luck restored.

The couple could then return the money to the bank and pay off the mortgage.

But when the astrologer did not return Sunday as promised, the couple became suspicious and retrieved the bag only to find they had been duped, Smith said.

Police described the suspects as Latino females, ages 40, 30 and 17. All three had long brown braided hair, and all wore long, dark dresses described as “gypsy-type clothing.”

They were driving a 1987 tan Ford station wagon and a 1982 light blue four-door Ford Granada.

Police went to the address given by Raquel and also tried to contact her by phone, but the three apparently had left the area, Smith said.

Anyone who may have been approached about such services should contact authorities.