Overview

• Prosecutors have charged 33-year-old Hemanth Kumar Muneppa with class B misdemeanor fortune telling and grand larceny after authorities say he defrauded a 68-year-old woman of about $62,000.
• Police allege he first obtained $20,000 for an occult reading on July 3 and then drove the victim to a Chase Bank on South Broadway to withdraw an additional $42,000 for further services.
• Bank personnel flagged the unusually large withdrawal, called police, and officers arrested Muneppa without incident in the parking lot on July 17.
• At his July 18 arraignment in Hempstead, Muneppa pleaded not guilty and was released under non-monetary conditions with the next hearing set for August 14.
• Investigators note prosecutions under the state’s fortune-telling ban are rare and urge anyone with information or similar experiences to contact Nassau County Police.