A theoretical explanation is given for earlier reported observations by the DE 1 and SCATHA satellites which have revealed ion distribution functions in the equatorial plasmasphere which are sharply peaked at 90¿ pitch angle. The pitch angle anisotropy increases with increasing energy for the observed distributions. Also observed by SCATHA and earlier spacecraft are cyclotron harmonic emissions which are closely confined to the plasmasphere equator. It is shown that the intense equatorial cyclotron turbulence can stochastically accelerate the higher-energy tail of the plasmasphere thermal ion distribution function. The efficiency of the process increases with higher energies, yielding greater anisotropies at higher energies in agreement with the observations. The rate of diffusion in energy of the ions is proportional to Wn, where W is the ion energy and n>5 is the cyclotron harmonic number. The number of highly anisotropic ions generated is limited by the initial ion distribution tail population and the time duration of the turbulence. The harmonic cyclotron turbulence is modeled as fast magnetosonic waves which are considered due to highly anisotropic energetic ion distributions in the plasmasphre. The turbulence may be treated in an electrostatic approximation given the high wave phase velocity.