Miss Cleo Avoids Birthplace Questions

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP)--Television psychic[sic] Miss Cleo repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination Wednesday, refusing to discuss a birth certificate showing she was born in Los Angeles to American parents.

Miss Cleo, whose real name is Youree Dell Harris and who has claims to be a Jamaican shaman, was giving a deposition in a civil suit filed by Florida.

The suit accuses her of deceptive trade practices for her television ads pitching a psychic hot line that charged up to $4.95 a minute.

Assistant Attorney General Dave Aronberg told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that on Wednesday, he went line by line through Harris' birth certificate, asking her if it was accurate. Each time she took the Fifth Amendment, he said.

Harris' lawyer, William Cone Jr., said the closed-door interview went well and his client said she felt wonderful.

``I won't give the devil his due. I praise the father for every day that I have,'' said Harris.

Miss Cleo takes the Fifth in birth certificate testimony

By Mitch Lipka
Consumer Writer
Posted June 27 2002

Miss Cleo repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on Wednesday as government lawyers asked her about a birth certificate that indicates she was born in Los Angeles to American parents and threatens to shatter her image as a mystical Jamaican.

She also hinted that her signature accent that was in place Wednesday might be adopted.

After months of resisting requests from the state Attorney General's Office to be interviewed, Miss Cleo, aka Youree Harris of Southwest Ranches, in Broward County, fielded questions for more than two hours.

The state lawyers were joined by an attorney for her co-defendant in the state's lawsuit — the company that produced the infomercials that made her an international curiosity.

The spots are off the air, the result of an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission, which is suing that company but not Harris.

The FTC and the attorney general in February both accused Fort Lauderdale-based Access Resource Services of deceptive advertising, billing and collection practices. Among the allegations: That callers paid $4.95 a minute to speak to telephone solicitors posing as psychics and that the company billed people who didn't call and sent collection letters that make illegal threats.

The psychic hotline drew millions of phone calls generated from the Miss Cleo late-night infomercial campaign. The FTC has said there are 6 million victims in the case.

Assistant Attorney General Dave Aronberg said he went line by line through the Harris' birth certificate, asking her whether each piece was accurate. Each time she took the Fifth Amendment, he said.

"Any time I asked her where she was born or where she was from, that's what happened," Aronberg said. "We maintain the birth certificate speaks for itself, that's she's from Los Angeles."

Aronberg has argued that her TV role as a Jamaican mystic was part of the alleged deception of consumers. Harris said she won her place on television after working as a contract telephone psychic. Aronberg said Harris stated that she responded to a request by Access Resource Services for telephone psychics to help in TV spots and was ultimately rewarded by being named the company's spokesperson.

The attorney general's lawsuit, filed in February, charges that Harris' role exceeded that as spokesperson and made her a participant in the alleged deception of consumers.

This was the government's first chance to speak face to face with Harris. She indicated that the "Jamaican" accent she used on the commercials — mocked by a Jamaican government spokesman — was not always her style of speaking, Aronberg said.

"She said she has been speaking that way for some time now," he said.

Harris' lawyer, William Cone Jr. of Fort Lauderdale, said he thought the interview went well. He didn't elaborate, noting that the deposition is not yet complete. She's due back on July 9.

Aronberg said Harris acknowledged she was not a master tarot card reader and is not the Jamaican "Shango Shaman" that Access Resource Services had portrayed her as and was disturbed at being promoted that way. She said there is no such thing as a Jamaican Shango Shaman, Aronberg said.

Repeatedly the TV psychic talked about her "gift" and philosophy of life as the lawyers prodded her for details about how she came to be the spokesperson for the psychic hotline. In answer to an oft-asked question, she said that she saw the investigation coming a year and a half ago, Aronberg said.

"She believes she has a special gift," Aronberg said.

On Tuesday, he said, Cone called him and asked for his date of birth.

Aronberg said Harris wanted to size him up before questioning started.

Harris had little to say afterward. "Father blesses me, I feel wonderful every day," she said. "I won't give the devil his due. I praise the father for every day that I have."

Jonathan Rubin contributed to this report.

Mitch Lipka can be reached at mlipka@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6653.

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