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CNN Live At Daybreak

Florida Takes Miss Cleo to Court

Aired February 21, 2002 - 05:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Picture this: You can't sleep. You are up late channel surfing, worrying about all that's going wrong in your life. Can you hear me California? With me so far? Then like magic, you come across an offer you cannot refuse. For a free call to an 800 number, you can have all of the questions about your future answered. You dial.

You get some amazing insights, and then, as CNN's John Zarrella reports, you get the bill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This woman is Yuri Del Harris. Do you recognize her? How about now?

YURI DEL HARRIS, MISS CLEO PSYCHIC TAROT CARD READER: You passed up a good one.

ZARRELLA: It's Miss Cleo, of course, the so-called psychic tarot card reader of late night infomercial fame.

HARRIS: You run around looking like a pauper, and he runs around looking GQ.

ZARRELLA: State authorities now say a courtroom is in the cards for Miss Cleo, asserting her company violates Florida law by intentionally keeping callers on the line as long as possible to run up the bill.

DAVID ARONBERG, FLORIDA ASST. ATTY. GEN.: We settled with them three separate times. This is their fourth bite at the apple. And now, we decided to stop settling and actually start suing.

ZARRELLA: Adding insult to injury, Aronberg says, callers don't even get a promised three-minute free reading after being kept on the line.

ARONBERG: Which, of course, mean that the people who dial up for $4.99 a minute are often played for the fool.

ZARRELLA: Others are getting bills for calls they never made.

ARONBERG: We had one person who said that: "My mother got this bill for calling Miss Cleo, and it's for $300. She never made the phone call." And so we said, "So how do you know she didn't make the phone calls?" She said, "Well, it's because my mother died two years ago."

ZARRELLA: One of the complaints against Miss Cleo came from Paula Castro.

PAULA CASTRO, VICTIM: This is the first letter that I received on August 21, the collection letter for unpaid services charging me $289.

ZARRELLA: The letter is from Miss Cleo, of course. The Castros didn't pay, because they say they never even thought about calling the 800 number. Then, threatening collections letters started showing up.

CASTRO: They pressure you.

ZARRELLA: Now, the state is questioning pressuring Miss Cleo.

HARRIS: I will keep it real.

ZARRELLA: Since state investigators admit they can't read minds, they have subpoenaed her birth records. They want to know if the woman, who lives in this Broward County suburb, is Miss Cleo, and is she really the master tarot card reader from Jamaica she claims to be.

(on camera): Neither Miss Cleo nor her attorney are discussing the accusations. They have until next month to respond to the state's complaint. As for law enforcement, they say if they play their cards right, they'll be putting Miss Cleo out of business.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And of course, we'll continue looking into her crystal ball.

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