Feb 15, 2007 3:08 am US/Pacific
Photographer Accused Of Leaving Couples Shuttering
by David Goldstein
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
"I wouldn't trust my daughter's wedding to an ***hole like you!"
These newlyweds are angry.
"You take our memories and destroy them and no one can get that back!"
Some tied the knot a year ago. Others two years ago, or more. But they still haven't received all their photo albums from their wedding photographer.
"My mother still asks me, weekly...did you hear back yet? Are we getting our albums?"
With a hidden camera, our producer posed as a bride-to-be and met the photographer.
His name is Alan Brent Carruth. His company is Alan Brent Photography.
"$2700 is the cost...that is with no tax."
The wedding packages cost thousands and he claims he delivers promptly.
"It takes the album company 3-4 weeks to make the album."
But that's NOT what dozens of people told us.
"Are you stealing memories?" we asked. "There are dozens and dozens of people who claim they haven't received their pictures."
Carruth replies: "Every person has received pictures within three weeks of the wedding."
Later that day, we invited a group of newlyweds to the Holiday Inn here in Woodland Hills to talk about what happened to them. We also invited Carruth...and surprisingly...he showed up."
Said one, "The gentleman here is the biggest con artist I ever met."
They didn't hold back. As the photographer sat in the corner, his victims painted a picture of despair.
"This is the last picture I have with my father." Like Marisa Edwards, her dying father, Warren, walked her down the aisle in September 2005. But the photo album was never delivered.
"My father was diagnosed with terminal cancer and he wasn't supposed to make it to the wedding, but he did. Our goal was to get the album done for him...but because you guys dropped the ball...I wasn't able to accomplish that. And I lost my father."
Alexis Kulic and Alexander Slanger tell a similar tale of woe.
"We hired Alan Brent to shoot photos at our wedding...and Alan Brent didn't show up at our wedding." She was surprised when another photographer, whom she never met, showed up instead.
Mari Bean was also surprised when she finally got her album. "There was a photo of someone else's wedding. Not me. In a style I never ordered."
All the people we gathered complained about months of unanswered phone calls -- albums never delivered.
Martha Aragon's daughter, Christina, may be waiting the longest.
Says Aragon, "The wedding was August 28, 2004. My daughter already has a baby!"
Through it all, Carruth took notes. He denied knowing about most of the problems -- even though his is a family run business.
"No one believes your lies," said one of his customers, "No one is buying this crap! It's amazing."
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
