HANOVER, Pa. — Hanover Borough Police Chief Chad Martin introduced himself as he stepped inside Serpent's Key Shoppe & Sanctuary on October 5th with another officer, greeting owner Beck Lawrence with a handshake.
Store security camera footage shows the conversation.
The chief told Lawrence that while he did not intend to press charges, fortune telling is illegal in Pennsylvania, referencing a law that's been on the books since the 1800s.
"If you think like seances and all of the people who were actually fraudsters knocking on the bottoms of tables say, 'Oh, that's your dead Aunt Sally', I get it, but that's not what we're doing," Lawrence said.
Lawrence is a practicing witch and a Pagan who offers tarot card readings to interested customers.
Shaken by the encounter, Lawrence consulted a lawyer.
"She's like, 'Hey, do you realize that your First and Fourteenth Amendment rights have been violated? Why aren't you more angry about that? I see you laughing a lot but this isn't a joke,'" Lawrence recalled.
Their attorney drafted this letter, addressed to the borough police department:
A lawyer representing Hanover Borough responded at the beginning of this month, claiming the police department had not launched an investigation into Lawrence or the business, but said it "cannot waive liability to enforce the law against Mx. Lawrence if at any point circumstances change."
Now, Lawrence is preparing to sue the department and challenge Pa.'s statute against fortune telling, a law they say is unconstitutional.
"It's not about me," Lawrence said. "It's about not only honoring my ancestors and the people who fought and died to have their religious freedoms, but also for the future."
Lawrence's lawyer is preparing to file a lawsuit with the Pa. Attorney General's Office.
FOX43 reached out to the Hanover Borough Police Chief and the department's legal counsel for a comment on this case. Neither party immediately responded to our request.