Phony Psychic Tried To Cash In...

"Montel Williams' psychic pal Sylvia Browne told the family of missing Shawn Hornbeck he was dead shortly after the Missouri boy vanished - and later allegedly offered to help locate his body for $700 per half hour.

The popular TV clairvoyant appeared on the "Montel Williams Show" in February 2003, four months after Shawn disappeared, and told Pam and Craig Akers she believed their son was "no longer with us."

She also advised that his body could be found in a wooded area 20 miles from their Richwoods, Mo., home, near two large jagged boulders.

Shawn, now 15, was found alive and well last Friday, living just miles away with a man now charged with snatching the boy when he was 11.

Browne's "vision" of his death caused search teams to redirect their efforts and drew dozens of calls from the public who believed they lived near the woods matching Browne's descriptions.

The family also claims the psychic then tried to cash in, which Browne vigorously denies.

"She called Pam and Craig about one month after the show and pretty much offered her services to continue their discussion for a fee," said Wayne Evans, a spokesman for the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation.

"Pam was that desperate that if she had had $700 in her bank account she would have put it on the table. We are talking about a mother who would have sold her soul to have her boy back."

"Everybody was angry," he added. "Sylvia Browne's name was never brought up again until Shawn was found. He's home now, and that's all that matters."

Browne, a regular guest on the "Montel" show, apologized for her misfire, exposed first by StopSylviaBrowne.com, a blog dedicated to tracking the psychic's every blunder.

"I'm terribly sorry that this happened," she told the Daily News. "But I think my body of work stands by itself. I've broken case after case."

Lets make one thing crystal clear. Sylvia Browne has never once, not once, "broke a case". Ever. She is a charlatan of the lowest order, one who feeds off the misery of others. There is, however no such thing as a phoney psychic, so I do apologize. For her to be a phony one, there would have to exist a genuine one, and this has never happened. It would be wonderful if women in particular stopped believing in such balderdash, and would save countless millions of dollars while allowing beleagured police departments to get about their real work without having to address the clamor to employ con artists.

Click here for more on the criminal otherwise known as Sylvia Browne.