A psychic reader from southern California conned a man out of almost $1 million over two years.

The psychic from Tarzana, California, and her husband allegedly scammed a San Fernando Valley man for two years.

According to court filings, the psychic, April Lee, 28, and her husband, Michael Johnson, 32, return to San Jose court on Dec. 19. The couple were charged with grand theft, attempted grand theft and extortion.  The psychic was arrested after a sting operation last month in Northern California.

The police say the psychic was using the name Michelle Morgan in the fall of 2011. The victim, Bryan James, 25 he went to Lee's psychic business on Etiwanda Avenue at Ventura Boulevard for a reading after his career had stalled and his love life was troubled. The psychic said she had to meditate on his love life before offering advice. According to the criminal complaint against the couple, the psychic said a love curse was placed on James and she could break the curse. But it wouldn't be cheap. James borrowed money. Over two years Brian James gave over $926,750 to Lee and Johnson.

To get his money back, Brian James hired Bob Nygaard, a private investigator known for handling cases involving psychics. James said "People who do this are always looking for victims who are going through career issues, health issues or love issues. He had all three. So it basically made him the perfect mark. They isolated him from everyone he knew. April would say something and Michael would swear to it, making everything seem real. They took him out to dinner on his birthday, he spent holiday meals with them. He really trusted them."

According to the criminal complaint, the psychic texted Brian James saying she was his lover but that she couldn't talk directly to James because of the curse. So she spoke through the psychic. Nygaard said "She was texting him all these things. 'Ooh baby, I can't wait until we're together. Xxoo.' Stuff like that."

James went to the cops, but they didn't take him seriously. The prosecutor on the case Cherie Boulard, deputy district attorney for Santa Clara County, said "It's really common for law enforcement to see it as a civil matter and not criminal. They think 'oh, well, they gave them the money voluntarily.' This is a consensual crime, so you have to get away from thinking of it as proving or disproving spirits and curses and look at the fraud. Things like that can be found in lots of these cases. A lot of people don't come forward because they're embarrassed, ashamed, scared. But this is fraud and it's a crime."