Failure to deliver psychic services gets woman 4 years in prison Pam Louwagie Star Tribune, Wednesday, July 25, 2001 She probably should have seen it coming.

A woman from Albert Lea, Minn., who advertised psychic services in tabloid newspapers, collected money from customers, then apparently didn't deliver on her promises was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to more than four years in prison.

Merna J. Sunde, 67, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering in a scheme that prosecutors say bilked more than 100 people of more than $465,000.

She was sentenced to four years and three months in prison and ordered to pay $465,161 in restitution.

A codefendant, Scott B. Taylor, 37, was sentenced Tuesday to two years and three months in prison and ordered to pay $82,410 in restitution. A student at Minnesota State University Mankato, Taylor was convicted in November of five counts of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to launder money.

The advertisements offered to use psychic powers to return lost lovers, advance careers, provide winning lottery numbers and remove hexes, curses and spells, for a fee, officials said. Sunde also offered to get people grants for a fee, saying she knew wealthy people and government sources.

When the promises didn't come through, some victims who kept inquiring about the status of services were threatened.

They were told that tragic events would happen in their lives or the lives of their families and friends, the indictment said.

After a grand jury indicted the pair last year, Sunde, who has said she was ordained through a California church, claimed that the government was violating her First Amendment right of religious expression.

But U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson said Tuesday in court in St. Paul that he didn't buy it.

"The court is convinced that this matter clearly falls outside of the First Amendment, that this conduct is criminal conduct under the guise of the First Amendment," Magnuson said before sentencing Sunde.

Instead, he said, it is a case of somebody trying to rip somebody off.

Defense attorney Paul Applebaum argued in court Tuesday that Sunde was trying to deliver the services.

"How does the government know that psychic services weren't provided?"

Applebaum said. Referring to one victim who paid Sunde several installments, Applebaum said: "I have to assume if the guy is sending that much money, he must be deriving some benefit from it."

Taylor's attorney, Earl Gray, claimed that Taylor had simply befriended Sunde and let her use a mailbox of his. He said Taylor didn't know the extent of Sunde's operation.

She was originally indicted on 94 counts, but 93 were dismissed in exchange for her guilty plea.

-- Pam Louwagie is at plouwagie@startribune.com

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