Psychic charged with bilking S.J. woman to drive out the evil within

Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer

A South Bay psychic and fortune teller known as "Miss Donna" has been charged with bilking $445,000 from a woman by telling her she was cursed and needed to pay up so she would be cleansed of evil, prosecutors said today.

Santa Clara County prosecutors say Lola Miller, also known as Donna Miller and Miss Donna, read the San Jose woman's fortune in August 2004 and, over the next seven months, extorted $350,000 in cash and another $95,000 in goods and services from her.

Miller told the woman that she and several of her relatives were cursed and that she needed to pay the money to be purified of evil, said Deputy District Attorney Stan Voyles. She also threatened the woman, according to Voyles.

At the time, Voyles said, Miller worked the area around Santana Row. She previously worked in San Francisco, where she was convicted of similar charges several years ago, he said.

Miller fled the Bay Area in 2005, said Voyles, "when the cops started to get on to her."

She was arrested about six weeks ago in New Jersey, Voyles added, and was extradited to California a month ago. Miller is to appear in court Dec. 5 to set a date for a preliminary hearing.

Voyles said prosecutors are interested in talking to clients of Miller's who may have been taken in by similar scams.

Anyone who may have given money to Miller should call district attorney's investigator Dennis Brookins at (408) 792-2851.