Posted on 06/27/2002 6:11:32 AM PDT by YourAdHere
Miss Cleo Won't Discuss Birthplace Wed Jun 26,10:07 PM ET
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Television psychic Miss Cleo repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination Wednesday, refusing to discuss a birth certificate that shows she was born in Los Angeles to American parents.
Miss Cleo, whose real name is Youree Dell Harris and has claimed to be a Jamaican shaman, gave a deposition in a civil suit filed by Florida. It accuses her with deceptive trade practices for her television ads pitching a psychic hot line that charged up to $4.95 a minute.
She had been resisting for months the state Attorney General's Office's requests to interview her, but Wednesday she fielded questions for more than two hours behind closed doors.
Assistant Attorney General Dave Aronberg said he went line by line through Harris' birth certificate, asking her if it 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, according the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "We maintain the birth certificate speaks for itself — that's she's from Los Angeles."
Harris also hinted that her signature accent might be adopted.
The spots are off the air, the result of an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission, which is suing Fort Lauderdale-based Access Resource Services for deceptive advertising, billing and collection practices.
The psychic hot line drew millions of phone calls generated from the Miss Cleo late night infomercial campaign. The Federal Trade Commission has said there are 6 million victims in the case.
Aronberg has argued that her television role as a Jamaican mystic was part of the alleged deception of consumers.
Harris' lawyer, William Cone Jr., said he thought the interview went well. He didn't elaborate, noting that the deposition is not yet complete. She is due back July 9.
Harris said little 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."
Thanks. You just shattered my entire belief system.
Next thing you know, we'll hear that Pamela Anderson's boobs aren't real.
No!!! Ya think?
Or V.C. Andrews -- it must be nice to still churn out books when you've been dead for 20 years!
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