"Miss Cleo""MISS CLEO" who is billed as a psychic from Jamaica was not born here at all but in Los Angeles, California, according to a new report yesterday in The Sun-Sentinel newspaper, South Florida.
The story, written by Mitch Lipka, the Sun-Sentinel's consumer writer, read: You may know her as "Miss Cleo", Jamaican shaman and psychic. Government and court documents say she's Youree Dell Harris, resident of Southwest Ranches in Broward County, and the mouthpiece in an alleged scam.
According to her birth certificate, Miss Cleo/Harris wasn't born in Jamaica, and those who have known her said the accent's not real either. She's from Los Angeles, born to parents native not to the Caribbean but to Texas and California.
The State Attorney-General's Office received a copy of the birth certificate showing Harris as having been born August 13, 1962, in Los Angeles County Hospital. The Sun-Sentinel obtained a copy under the state's public records law.
"We sought this document because the company has gone to great lengths to say that Miss Cleo is a master shaman from Jamaica," said David Aronberg, an assistant Attorney-General. "This would contradict the whole validity of whom Miss Cleo is."
The distinct accent used by the Miss Cleo character on late night infomercials has been a hallmark of a marketing campaign that has lured millions to pay nearly US$5 a minute for supposed glimpses into the future.
Both the Attorney-General and the Federal Trade Commission last month sued Access Re-source Services, the Fort Lauderdale company owned by Peter Stolz and Steven Feder that operates the Psychic Readers Network and airs the infomercials that feature Miss Cleo. The state also named Harris as a defendant.
Aronberg said Harris's attorney, William Cone, Jr., of Fort Lauderdale, has contended the document is a fraud. But Cone said Wednesday he didn't want to get into a debate about the document.
He said he would continue to argue in court that Harris should not be party to the state lawsuit. As a contractor of Access Resource Services, she should not have to defend herself, Cone said.
But the Attorney-General's Office which made defendants out of spokesmen Ed McMahon and Dick Clark in a 1998 lawsuit against American Family Publishers contends that Harris was party to allegedly deceiving consumers. The bulk of the case against Access, though, involves less sexy allegations of improper billing practices.
Access is accused of chasing after people who didn't call the psychic hotline and trying to collect money from them using questionable tactics.
Cone said Harris would make a statement to defend herself.
Taken from the web site of the Sun-Sentinel newspaper.
