If Barber Clark was actually any good at what she used to do, she would have seen her legal problems coming.
Clark, a one time radio psychic in Lexington, Ky. has been indicted on five felony counts of stealing more than $700,000 from an escrow account at the now closed mortgage company she and her husband operated.
Neither Clark, 68, nor her attorney could be reached to comment. She has pleaded not guilty, according to court papers filed in Fayette County Circuit Court.
Clark, who has not been on the radio for nearly 15 years, operated Consolidated Mortgage Inc. in Lexington. She is charged with felony theft by failure to make a required disposition of money, Lexington Police Sgt. Pat Murray said in a phone interview.
“She was using other people’s money, that’s the real simple way to put it,” Murray said.
Murray said that between 1997 and the end of 2002, Barber is alleged to have spent more than $700,000 in escrow money on salaries, taxes and business and personal expenses.
The money came from borrowers who refinanced their homes and then closed the new loans, according to the court documents.
“I didn’t know she was a psychic,” Murray said.
The Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions revoked Consolidated Mortgage’s state license after an audit revealed the improprieties, Department spokesman Mark York said in a phone interview.
All told Clark faces five felony counts, including altering bank documents and not fully disclosing her company’s financial operations to state regulators. If convicted she could be sentenced to one to five years on each count, court documents show.
Clark was a radio psychic on WVLK AM radio in Lexington, Robert Lindsey, operations manager for station owner Cumulus Broadcasting, said in a phone interview. He could not recall how long she hosted the show.
WVLK is generally regarded as Lexington’s top AM talk radio station.
Lindsey was miffed with local news reports identifying Clark as a radio psychic who had worked at the station.
“I’m way bothered with that,” Lindsey said. “It’s been 13 to 14 years since she was on the station. It’s irrelevant to bring it up.”
But Lindsey did talk about Clark’s tenure as the host of an hour long psychic show that was broadcast Sunday evenings.
Callers would contact her and she would basically read their fortunes, Lindsey said.
“She was not an employee, she did the show totally on her own,” he said. “She was someone who wanted to do that type of show because she enjoyed it.”
The show never did garner much in the way of ratings, but Lindsey recalled Clark having a small but “very loyal following.”
“People were calling early in the afternoon and would hold (for hours) to talk to her,” he said. “You could have 100 people trying to get through. The phones were exploding.
“I’m sure people did take her seriously,” Lindsey said. “They were trying to reach several hours ahead” of when her program aired.
