An Ocean City therapist who admitted to using clients' credit cards to pay for psychic readings has closed her practice and moved out of state, according to her attorney.
But it's unclear whether Ashley Crooks really has stopped seeing patients, despite relinquishing her license more than five months ago.
The owner of Counseling by the Sea used patients' credit cards to rack up about $40,000 in psychic readings within two months on the Sanctuary Ventures, the company whose mobile app offers on-demand personalized psychic readings.
Crooks was arrested in February and voluntarily surrendered her license April 29. A week earlier, she formed The Soul Coach, a limited liability company that offers life coaching.
"I did demand as part of the resolution surrender of her license," Assistant Prosecutor Edward Shim told BreakingAC. "This was a breach of trust. (Giving up her license) was something that was important to myself and my office."
Invoices now label her services as coaching sessions.
But some patients say they had no idea their therapist was now serving as a "life coach" until BreakingAC reported about the case.
"No, she did not indicate a change in her status as far as I was concerned it was business as usual," one patient wrote in an email to BreakingAC.
It had actually been about 10 months between sessions, the woman said.
When she made her Sept. 6 appointment, the patient who BreakingAC is not naming to protect her privacy said she was asked to fill out an online form but was not aware of the change from therapy to "coaching session" until she reviewed her invoice.
There were patients who said Crooks had them sign something, but they were not clear that she had given up her therapist license. At least one said Crooks said she gave up her license as a business move.
"She didn't disclose her change in status," another patient told BreakingAC. "Perhaps there was some legalese on the new patient form. But given that I was a current client, there should have been full disclosure. Either she was providing me with a service she was unlicensed to perform, or I was paying for a service that I wasn't receiving."
Others say they have since been charged for sessions in addition to the ones they attended. Some claim they still have not been reimbursed.
Some have indicated they may sign complaints with the Ocean City Police Department for still-missing money. No complaints were filed at the time of this writing.
Crooks was entered into pretrial intervention Aug. 8, the same day she showed up on the Instagram of The Impact Coach, a group run by Katie Sandler, who lists herself as a former therapist and certified coach.
The caption included a question-and-answer session with Crooks.
Crooks' three words of intention for the year are listed as consistency, integrity and peace.
Sandler's site offers consultation appointments with several coaches. On Thursday, that included Ashley Crooks.
Visitors could click on a "book" button to scheduled a half-hour introductory consultation for $20. The blurb made no mention of Crooks ever being a therapist or acting in that capacity.
But by Friday morning, Crooks was no longer listed on the site.
Sandler told BreakingAC that after the issue with Crooks was brought to her attention, she took her down from the site and had cut ties.
"(Crooks) is in full compliance with the interim consent order," defense attorney Meg Hoerner said last week, after Crooks approved a brief statement. "She has closed her practice. She's in the process of relocating."
Hoerner did not say where Crooks is moving, but confirmed that she was going through the permission process required under her PTI.
Crooks previously talked with patients about expanding to Cape Cod.
But even that may not have stopped her from keeping appointments with her former patients.
"I was told she was 'expanding the practice,'" another patient said on condition of anonymity. "So, keeping her office in (Ocean City) and also establishing an office in Cape Cod."
The patient said she asked Crooks about the BreakingAC article.
"She explained that she had a lawyer and could not really speak about it," the woman said. "She then confirmed our appointment."
Shim, the assistant prosecutor, said he could not give anyone legal advice, but said if it's believed Crooks is illegally practicing, they can notify the Attorney General's Office.
The pretrial intervention agreement Crooks signed postpones any court hearings for 36 months while she completes her program. That is the maximum time for PTI, Shim explained.
Conditions include relinquishing her license, probation oversight, random drug screenings and paying restitution to Sanctuary Ventures.
She had to put down a few thousand dollars her initial restitution payment, Shim said.
Her PTI then requires $29,749.76 in restitution paid at $100 each month. While that would take more than 25 years to repay at that rate, it appeared Crooks had plans to pay it off quicker.
Crooks' crimes were discovered after the mother of a patient found two credit card charges that were not her own. She called Sanctuary Ventures, which launched its own investigation. They found about 30 different credit cards used by Crooks' account, with another approximately 20 cards that were denied at the point of purchase.
Crooks was charged with one count each of unlawful use of credit cards and theft by deception. She quietly got accepted into PTI, and her patients were not notified of the case, including those who later learned their credit cards had also been used.
Because Sanctuary Ventures repaid the fraudulent charges, the company was the only victim, Shim said in explaining why patients whose cards were used were not notified.
Heather Bailey, a patient for five years who agreed to be named in this story, didn't realize her credit card had been used until she read BreakingAC's story. But when she called Crooks, she got a much different version of events.
It was "a security breach," Crooks said in messages to Bailey shared with BreakingAC.
"Those involved are still being investigated but there is no remaining criminal record under Ashley's name," Bailey said at the time. "She notified all her clients she was giving up her license in April to switch to life coaching for business reasons."
That's when BreakingAC shared the pending criminal complaint bearing Crooks' name, and the pretrial intervention details.
Bailey then shared her story on TikTok last week with the headline, "My therapist scammed me?"
It had garnered more than a million views within the first couple days. It was at more than 1.6 million as of Friday. including several other patients who learned of their therapist's arrest from the video.
Now it appears there are still issues with money.
Several patients shared bills with BreakingAC showing they were charged for sessions in addition to the ones they attended, most at $150 each.
"She told me it was a mishap with Square," one patient said of the mobile payment app Crooks was using since the credit cards issue.
A former employee also said there were issues getting paychecks, including her bank advising her to only accept cash from Crooks.
Crooks' future plans are unclear.
There seemed to be a plan to move out of state and possibly begin a new practice in Massachusetts.
A number with a 774 area code which covers southeastern Massachusetts was on an online profile for Crooks last Wednesday.
"Hi, you've reached the confidential voicemail of Counseling by the Sea and The Soul Coach," it began.
But by the next day, it was no longer a working number. Counseling by the Sea's website and other social media also disappeared.
That same day, Crooks allowed her attorney to give BreakingAC a brief statement insisting that she has shuttered her practice.
There are also questions about the diploma that hangs Crooks' office.
The framed doctor of philosophy/psychology diploma shows Nova Southeastern University presented the degree to "Dr. Ashley Palma Crooks" on April 30, 2021. But the school has no record of her graduating from their doctoral program, BreakingAC has confirmed.
A June Facebook post proudly tells people, "You can call me Doc," adding that earning the degree "while seeing 45 clients a week and running three businesses& was one of the hardest things I've ever done."
But it doesn't seem she did it.
Crooks did get her masters there in 2015.
In 2020, she had a podcast in which she referred to herself only as "Doc," even though her own timeline doesn't have her getting her doctoral degree until the following year.
She is not listed on a published list for graduates in 2021, the year her diploma states.
Last year, Crooks appeared as a panelist in a Zoom presented by the Ocean City Division of Social Services for "reentry anxiety." The video was still visible with a link, but has no sound. Her screen lists her as "Dr. Ashley Crooks."
Her "Meet Our Panelists" introduction remains on the division's Facebook page.
One patient told BreakingAC she doesn't know how she would cope if this happened early in her therapy.
"I'm fortunate that I have developed a strong skill set and can deal with problems," the woman told BreakingAC. "I feel terrible for her clients that haven't achieved that yet. I think about how fragile and broken I was when I first started with her and if this happened to me in the midst of that time it would have devastated me.
"Her victims aren't just the people who she stole cards from but all her clients," she added. "She stole trust from all her clients."
(NOTE: This story was updated to include confirmation that there is no record of Crooks receiving her doctorate from Nova Southeastern University.)
