TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Presumably, she knows how he feels.

The friend of a psychic hot line employee was sentenced Thursday to a year in custody after admitting that he boosted her income by making 153 calls to her "900" number from the bank where he worked as a contractor.

Yarneiser "John" Perez was also ordered to repay $164,378.74 to Bankers Trust Co., the amount it was charged for the 546 hours and 30 minutes of calls he made to Teleamigos, in the Dominican Republic.

Perez, 25, was in charge of changing computer data tapes at the bank. Prosecutors said he would make the unauthorized calls and leave the phone off the hook for hours.

The calls cost $4.99 a minute. The longest, lasting more than 14 hours, cost the bank $4,286.41, according to the charges.

A federal judge said she would recommend Perez be assigned to a halfway house, but the decision is in the hands of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

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