Angry Couples Confront Wedding Photographer Who 'Stole' Their Memories
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — CBS2 Investigative Reporter David Goldstein first reported on wedding photographer Alan Brent Carruth in 2007.
Scores were suing him over what they called shoddy work. Some couples never received their photos at all. Some got their pictures three, four and five years after their ceremonies were held.
Carruth was to be sentenced Friday for eight counts of grand theft.
But not before some of the couples got to get a few things off their chest. Today, many of those couples confronted Carruth in a Los Angeles courtroom. And their anger was palpable.
Jennifer Autajay saw her wedding photos for the first time in court today. Five years after her marriage. "My brother just recently got married," she cried, "and we look at his album. Our son asks, 'Mommy, daddy, where are your pictures?' What do you tell a 4-year-old boy?"
And Autajay was not alone in telling Carruth exactly what she thought of him.
Mary Saxon said, dealing with Carruth has "been a nightmare. A nightmare. And nobody wants to see my pictures now," she said, "and they're ... horrible."
She was married in 2005. "How are you going to give me my dreams back? And my memories back? Tell me. You can't. We cant do a repeat." And she also asked Carruth, "How can you sleep with yourself?"
Marisa Edwards wanted her dying father to see her wedding album before he passed. "A parent book...it's the last thing I was going to send with him in his casket. But that didn't happen," she said, choking back tears.
Carruth told Goldstein outside of court that he "felt horrible" for his myriad of disappointed customers and added "I don't know what else I can say."
He also lashed out at Goldstein. "You have been dishonest with me. I hesitate to talk to you."
Goldstein said Carruth was claiming medical problems and his scheduled sentencing was pushed back to August 26 while a judge reviews his medical records.
Carruth faces up to eight years in prison.
