Victims defrauded with cleansing money of evil spirits scam

Giving a literal twist to the term “money laundering,’’ three women sweet-talked hapless victims into believing they would be purged of evil spirits if they sent thousands of dollars to Fort Lauderdale to be “cleansed,” authorities say. The women promised that the money - $59,000 in all - would be returned. The money never was sent back, authorities say.

Now Bridgette Evans, 32, of Dania Beach, and Pollie Evans, 36, and Olivia Evans, 22, both of Texas, have been arrested on wire fraud charges. Each faces up to 20 years in prison, if convicted. According to a federal indictment, the trio told “certain individuals that they could determine if evil spirits were present in their lives or the lives of their loved ones and if those spirits were causing illnesses or other problems.”

They further told them that they should send their money to be “cleansed” and that the “cleansing” would make their evil spirits disappear and cure their illnesses, the indictment says. Four people in Texas, Wisconsin and the Caribbean island of Anguilla sent their money via Western Union or MoneyGram to the three women between 2007 and 2008, the indictment says. But the trio never returned the money, as promised.

In one instance, Olivia Evans allegedly told someone identified as “L.S.” to send money to her “to take care of the evil things” - and that if she didn’t, “bad things would happen” to her and her family, according to the indictment. Evans promised she would return the money - $9,000 - but she didn’t. Then things got stranger: Evans told L.S. to buy a Rolex with a prism, saying “the watch was needed to be used as a vortex for demons to return to hell,” the indictment says. Evans “promised to return the Rolex watch to L.S. as soon as all the demons had passed through the vortex.” Olivia Evans didn’t return the Rolex.