Psychic surgeon charged

Alex L. Orbito, 65, a self-described “reverend” who claims to reach into the bellies of the ill to retrieve their “negative energies,” faces charges of fraud over $5,000 and possession of the proceeds of crime.

Det. Michael Barsky of the Toronto police said officers seized $6,000 in U.S. and Canadian currency — the proceeds of a single afternoon of healing — after raiding the Scarborough hotel where Orbito and his fellow accused, John Robert Wood, 62, are alleged to have set up treatment sessions.

“Through sleight of hand, he tells them that he’s removed tumors and illnesses from their body,” Barsky said. “Complainants have held out that it looks like he has some sort of bloody substance on his hand.”

Debunkers claim practitioners of “psychic surgery” keep a small balloon filled with animal blood inside the palms of their hands, squeezing them just as their hands appear to enter the abdomens of their patients.

The tumors and guts they remove, the size of Brazil nuts, are frequently the livers and hearts of chickens.

Orbito also claims to cure blindness by removing a patients’ eyeballs and cleaning them before replacing them in their sockets, other reports say.

A private session with Orbito typically lasts between two and seven minutes, with charges beginning at $135, Barsky said.

Orbito held six sessions over two days last weekend, each drawing 200 to 500 patients, numbers that indicate he and his Canadian partner may have collected hundreds of thousands of dollars, Barsky said.

Wood of Pickering is alleged to have coordinated the sessions, arranging venues and soliciting patients.

Barsky said Wood lured some to the treatment by claiming Orbito had cured his own wife of breast cancer — an illness further investigation has revealed she never suffered.

Wood faces the same charges as Orbito.

Police made the arrests on Tuesday after receiving complaints from people who attended the sessions.

“He’s pulling the heartstrings of very, very sick people who don’t have any other medical answers for their situations,” Barsky said, adding Orbito’s patients came from all walks of life, with some even asking that he treat their sick pets.

MacLaine wrote about Orbito in her 1989 book, “Going Within: A Guide to Inner Transformation.”

Orbito is also said to have treated Fidel Ramos, the former President of the Philippines.

This is not the first time Orbito, who travels the world ministering to believers, has run afoul of Canadian authorities.

In September 1996, immigration officials, the RCMP and representatives of the College des medecins du Quebec halted one gathering in Fossambault-sur-le-Lac, reminding Orbito that he does not have the right to practice medicine in Canada.

In 1989, Liberal Sen. Hazen Argue of Saskatchewan was accused of helping people receive treatment from Orbito in a Regina hotel.

Orbito arrived in Canada about a month ago, police say, and is travelling with his wife and adult daughter. Police are not sure where he is based, though in the past he has lived in Manila, Philippines.