'Psychic' who reported mass grave north of Houston must pay $7 million

[SidDithers]

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Psychic-who-reported-mass-grave-north-of-4596687.php#src=fb

A self-described psychic who triggered a media frenzy when she told authorities a Liberty County couple had a mass grave on their property has been ordered to pay the couple $6.8 million.

A Dallas County judge issued the judgment May 7 against Presley "Rhonda" Gridley, the sole remaining defendant in a lawsuit filed a year ago.

"Whether it will be collectible, we're going to pursue that," said Dallas attorney Andrew Sommerman.

He represents plaintiffs Joe Bankston and Gena Charlton in the suit that has concluded, except for efforts to collect the judgment.

And if the Sheriff had told the "psychic" to fuck off, none of this would have happened.

Sid

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Awesome post Sid!

ENOUGH of silly-fucking pseudo-science.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

2. You'd think she would've seen that coming.

[Lisa0825]

3. DUzy! LOL nt

[Archae]

4. I'm just waiting for Sylvia Browne to get sued.

She's made so many fake claim, most recently a girl she said was "dead" already turned out to be a captive of that Ohio Castro pervert.

[thelordofhell]

5. I sense a bankruptcy in her future

[agent46]

9. I sense

I sense a brainwashed new age ideologue trying to be clever but missing the mark as usual.

[longship]

8. Bring back the Bunco Squad!

I remember it from 1950's TV. Also, Dragnet often had Jack Webb and Ben Alexander (later Harry Morgan) on the Bunco beat. "Just the facts, Ma'am."

Philadelphia tried to enforce this a few years ago -- as reported on the SGU, the best podcast in the universe -- but withdrew the policy when the psychics complained that it was mere entertainment (also reported by the SGU).

I want Sylvia Browne, and everybody making similar claims, to be subject to prosecution for fraud. The penalties should be severe, especially for Sylvia who is as heartless a person of whom I have ever heard. There is no length of prison sentence too long for the likes of these people.

The story of Sylvia Browne on the Shawn Hornbeck case is heart rending. To see her working over the Hornbecks on the Montel Williams Show, especially so.

And Sylvia was also involved in the recent case in Ohio with one of those girls, Amanda Berty, held prisoner for years and years.

Throw away the key!

[SidDithers]

11. Yeah, I keep hoping for that day too...

You'd think after all the times she's been wrong, especially after all the bad publicity she got when the 3 women were found in Cleveland, that she'd have to answer to someone.

But nope. She just keeps making shit up and getting paid.

Sid

[ProdigalJunkMail]

24. pure slime this woman is

and Montel for allowing these people to be subjected to her chicanery...

[malaise]

10. Didn't she see this coming

[Make7]

12. She just needs to buy a Lotto ticket with the right numbers.

That seven million dollars should be easy to raise.

[Logical]

22. That is the proof to my that psychic powers are not real.....

Lotterys and Casinos are still in business.

[cynatnite]

13. And the idiot who took her seriously? What happens to that person? n/t

[SidDithers]

16. Good point. The cop who believed her...

should have been sued too.

Sid

[csziggy]

21. Yes, why did the judge let the sheriff's office off the hook?

From the article linked in the OP:

The suit alleges that Gridley called the Liberty County Sheriff's Office and falsely claimed that 25 to 30 dismembered bodies were buried in a mass grave at the plaintiffs' residence.

The sheriff's office repeated the false statements to various news media organizations and provided the plaintiff's address, the suit states.

<SNIP>

When initially filed, the suit's defendants included Liberty County and six media outlets, which over time were dismissed.

Since media is no longer "news" in any sense, I can sort of see letting them off, even though they embellished the story to a ridiculous extent. But the sheriff's office should have had more sense than to accept a psychic's unsubstantiated word or to repeat that fakery to the media as fact OR to give out the location alleged to be a crime scene.

If it had been a legitimate tip to a crime scene, the location and the process of investigation would have been damaged due to the media frenzy. Since it was from a dubious source, why would they give out that information? The SO should have just kept their mouths shut until at least an initial investigation was complete.

IMO the Liberty County Sheriff's Office should be at least as culpable as the "psychic"!

[warrior1]

14. That is so weird

I was just thinking about this case a few days ago. Not psychic the thought just popped in my head.

[asjr]

15. Maybe they did not dig deep enough.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

17. How was the Sheriff's Department not liable?

It appears it was the Sheriff who turned it into a media circus. The alleged psychic's allegation was just a tip to police (massively wrong, of course), but it seems it was the action of the Sheriff that caused the damage.

[SwissTony]

18. Agreed. I believe police get lots of psychic "tips" in this sort of case

and 99.9999% of them are tossed in the bin where 100.0000% of them belong.

But this quote "The sheriff's office repeated the false statements to various news media organizations and provided the plaintiff's address, the suit states" seems to point more to sheriff's office than to the psychic.

I'm actually feeling some sympathy for the psychic, which is something I would never have predicted because I'm not psychic.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

32. Take being psychic out of the equation...

If I'm a citizen and think my neighbor is running a meth lab, I might be less likely to cooperate with the police if I think I could be held civilly liable for whatever actions the police might take.

[Orrex]

19. I'm sure that she was a fraud and not representative of real psychics.

[SwissTony]

27. REAL psychics??????

Please post evidence.

[Orrex]

28. Well, I foresaw that someone would post something like that.

Does that count?

[SwissTony]

29. "Well, I foresaw that someone would post something like that"

We're both psychic! Got the numbers for the lottery?

[Logical]

20. Idiot cops. Who the fuck is dumb enough to believe in psychics? The cops should pay also. n-t

[Rod Walker]

25. Roughly half of Americans believe in psychics, per most polls.

There are a lot of dumb people out there...

[Logical]

26. Good point! n-t

[zappaman]

23. How did she not see this coming?

Rec and Kick!

[WolverineDG]

30. Don't feel so smug, DUers

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4876346

http://election.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4876303

at least in the longer thread, people started back-tracking when no bodies were found. But still, the usual suspects showed up to opine.

[NaturalHigh]

31. Anyone who claims to be psychic...

but hasn't won the powerball jackpot is either a fraud or an idiot.

[SidDithers]

33. Or both...

Sid