Wedding Photographer Pleads Guilty to Felony Theft After Scamming Couples
A wedding photographer is to be sentenced after pleading guilty to felony theft after scamming dozens of couples.
Colorado-based photographer Suzanne Nevill of Suzanne Nevill Photography has been accused of withholding payments to other photographers and not delivering images to couples.
According to CBS News, Nevill was charged with eight counts of felony theft and pleaded guilty to one class five felony in January.
Nevill’s plea agreement stipulates that she will pay nearly $40,000 in restitution and serve a four-year deferred sentence, meaning no jail time, unless she violates the terms of the plea.
The wedding photographer will be sentenced on Friday at Douglas County District Court in Colorado.
If the judge accepts Nevill’s plea agreement on Friday, 39 victims will be entitled to that financial restitution.
However, Parker Police in Colorado says it has reports about the wedding photographer from more than 120 victims — with the most recent report filed in February 2023.
There have been complaints about Nevill by clients as well as other photographers dating back to 2021.
CBS News reports that a Facebook group warning against hiring Nevill currently has 16,000 members. Many of the members are brides and photographers who say Nevill still owes them thousands of dollars.
A bride told CBS News that Nevill agreed to refund her as recently as December, but never did.
No Payments or Photos
According to a report by KDVR last year, Nevill was accused of booking weddings as a photographer. But then shortly before the big day, Nevill would 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.
A Photographer Who Could Never Be Reached
For example, bride-to-be Sarah Garcia hired Nevill in 2021. Garcia believed that she had found her dream photographer for her wedding in Nevill and purchased a wedding package for over $1,400.
“She had a website and definitely looked legit. Facebook, Instagram, had a huge portfolio,” Garcia tells CBS News.
“An engagement session, a boudoir shoot, and eight hours of photography at the wedding, with two photographers. The only stipulation was you had to pay in full the same day.”
However, when Garcia tried to schedule the engagement and boudoir shoots, Nevill couldn’t be reached
The bride panicked. But the night before her wedding in May 2021, Nevill texted Garcia to say she would be there.
However, on the big day, another photographer showed up because Nevill had claimed that “someone was in the hospital with COVID or something like that.”
Garcia was able to shake off the disappointment and enjoy her wedding. But Nevill never paid that photographer.
Garcia had to pay that substitute photographer a further $1,200 to get her wedding photos — in addition to what she had originally paid Nevill.
According to CBS News, Nevill’s old website is no longer active, but the Secretary of State’s website lists her name with another photography business called “Becoming You.” That business has active websites and social media pages.
Image credits: Feature photo licensed via Depositphotos.
