Wedding Photographer Charged with Theft for ‘Withholding Payments’
A wedding photographer, who is accused of withholding payments to other photographers and not delivering images to couples, has been charged with theft.
KDVR reports that Suzanne Nevill of Suzanne Nevill Photography was charged with theft in Colorado on March 22.
The charges come after an investigation into Colorado-based photographer Nevill following complaints by her clients and other photographers dating back to 2021. Nevill’s first court appearance will be on April 17.
No Payments or Photos
According to KDVR, Nevill was accused of booking weddings as a photographer. But then shortly before the big day, Nevill would allegedly back out of the job with dramatic excuses and make a last-minute plea for other wedding photographers to fill in for her.
Other photographers and associates would feel sorry for Nevill. They would step up to help her and shoot the wedding day for her clients in her place. However, they claim that they never received their payments from Nevill.
Nevill promised a second payment deposit would be sent to the photographers and associates after they had shot the wedding day for her clients. But this would never be paid.
And as a result, the couples would never receive the final wedding photos as Nevill had never paid the substitute photographers.
“She told me the photographer she hired ‘broke her leg’ so she needed to hire someone immediately and it was an emergency,” Ohio-based wedding photographer Rekira Luketic, who stepped in for Nevill, tells KDVR.
‘I Had Bit Off More Than I Could Chew’
According to a report by CBS News in October 2021, dozens of brides and an estimated 40 associates claim Nevill scammed them out of tens of thousands of dollars.
Brides and women who requested boudoir shoots also claim that they paid Nevill and then a shoot was never even scheduled.
At the time, Parker Police in Colorado had received at least 15 reports about Nevill and were expecting more to be filed.
In 2021, Nevill told FOX31 Problem Solvers that she had filed for bankruptcy and planned to pay everyone back.
“I had bit off more than I could chew. I was often overworked and tired and burnt out — all things an experienced photographer will tell you will happen if you do not value yourself,” Nevill says.
“As my family has grown and life has changed, my availability and priorities have changed quite a bit, making it hard for people to get in for their sessions.
“So I started an associate program — where I would hire photographers to shoot for me. It was great at first, when I only had one but the same thing happened, I kept booking more and more and needed more and more people.
“I slowly started getting more behind. I didn’t know what I was doing. I thought the more I booked, the more money I’ll be in and eventually I will dig myself out of this. But it just kept getting worse and worse.”
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
