Author Topic: Tarot Card Reader Duped Teens Into Sex Acts (Read 164 times)

Low Key · « **on:** January 30, 2007, 03:27:54 PM »

A 40-year-old Coon Rapids man who marketed himself as a tarot-card reader called "The Maestro" was charged with six felonies involving his alleged viewing of a minor having sex with her boyfriend.
A 16-year-old girl and her 19-year-old boyfriend visited the business of Miguel Antonio Garcia Garro at 2500 Nicollet Av. S. after seeing an advertisement in a Spanish-language publication for spiritual counseling by "Maestros Espirituales."

The couple told Garcia Garro that they wanted to improve their relationship with the boyfriend's father, who did not approve of their dating, according to a criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court.

Initially, Garcia Garro charged the couple $60 to read their palms and tarot cards. He told the couple there were demons surrounding the man's father causing "bad energy," the complaint said.

He told the couple, identified only as S.S. and S.B., that if they paid him $750, he would see them twice a week and help them with their problems. On the next visit, Jan. 5, he took down their names and addresses and told them to strip to their underwear and wipe their bodies using napkins soaked with what he described as holy water that he had poured into a wine glass. He then took the napkins and wrapped them in tinfoil so he could "examine the energy levels," the complaint said.

On the third visit, Jan. 9, he told then to have sex on his desk, which he covered with a sheet and told the woman to wipe herself afterward with a napkin and wrap it in tinfoil for him to examine. She did, according to the complaint. He also told the couple to wipe themselves, including their genitalia, in holy water before sex, the complaint said. Garcia Garro left the room before the couple had sex.

The same rituals occurred during visits on Jan. 12, 16, 19 and 24, but on the final visit, the woman noticed what appeared to be a stereo speaker, which upon closer examination she realized was a camera lens. She and her boyfriend went to the Minneapolis police.

Police got a search warrant for the unlicensed business and found the camera as described by the couple. The camera led to another room, where it was possible for someone to watch the couple have sex on the desk.

A VCR and television were also connected to the camera. Police also found tinfoil squares wrapped around tissues, the complaint said.

Garcia Garro is being held in custody. He is charged with five counts of using a minor in a sexual performance, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years on each count. He also is charged with "interference with privacy," which is also a felony and punishable with a sentence of up to two years.

He was arrested Friday.

http://www.startribune.com/467/story/969423.html