Her mother-in-law seems to have at some point stepped into her chair behind the crystal ball. On April 9, around 10 p.m., a 23-year-old woman from the Upper West Side, whose name was not released, entered the parlor, drawn in by a flier promising answers to two questions for $10, according to a criminal complaint.

Ms. Evans did a tarot card reading and delivered bad news, according to the complaint: The woman’s mother had been cursed and had passed the curse on to the woman. Ms. Evans asked the woman to go to a nearby Duane Reade and buy a $300 Visa gift card so she could get to work cleansing her spirit, the complaint said. The woman did.

The next day, the woman returned, and Ms. Evans told her she needed a tool for the cleansing, said Bob Nygaard, a private investigator who was later hired by the woman. The tool was a decorative water fountain, a 49-inch tall column of “natural slate and copper” over which water continuously flowed, transforming “a small section of garden or office into a relaxing getaway,” according to a website. It cost $399.39, including overnight shipping, Mr. Nygaard said. The woman bought it.

She also bought Ms. Evans two $500 Visa cards, the complaint said. Ms. Evans asked for money to buy 23 candles, one for each year of the woman’s life, at a cost of $600 per candle, the complaint said. But the woman declined, and by the end of that week, sensing all was not right, she demanded her money back and was refused, Mr. Nygaard said.

The woman was not leaving empty-handed: The water fountain was in the parlor. The woman hauled it outside and, with the help of a passing stranger, got it shipped back to the company and got most of her money back, Mr. Nygaard said.

Detectives from the Midtown South precinct arrested Ms. Evans on Sunday at 6:45 p.m. outside of the parlor, the police said. She was charged with petty larceny, fraud and fortunetelling. She was released on her own recognizance after an arraignment on Monday. Her lawyer, Jeffrey Cylkowski, said she denied the charges.

She gave the police the address of an apartment on West 49th Street as her residence. On Monday, there was a neon sign in the front window of that apartment that read, “Psychic Readings.” A woman answered a reporter’s knock and asked, “Do you want a reading?”

Asked about Ms. Evans, the woman, who said her name was Tina, said she never heard of her. But she said she had only moved into the apartment a week ago.