Overview

• Bank staff alerted police July 17 after spotting a suspicious $42,000 withdrawal attempt, leading to Muneppa’s arrest outside a Chase branch in Hicksville.
• He faces grand larceny and a class B misdemeanor fortune-telling violation for allegedly charging over $62,000 to a 68-year-old client.
• Prosecutors say Muneppa solicited $20,000 on July 3 and then drove the victim to withdraw an additional $42,000 for purported occult services at Anjana Ji.
• At his July 18 arraignment in Hempstead, 33-year-old Hemanth Kumar Muneppa pled not guilty and was released under electronic monitoring without bail.
• The case tests enforcement of New York’s rarely used anti-fortune-telling law and highlights efforts to combat elder financial exploitation.