Couples Disappointed After Finally Seeing Wedding Albums
By David Goldstein
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Years after they tied the knot, some not-so-newlyweds finally got the chance to get their wedding albums. Their photographer never delivered after taking thousands of dollars -- a story we broke four years ago. But after all these years, the couples still have not gotten their money's worth.
It was the day they had been waiting for long after their wedding. Mary and Kyle Saxon got married almost six years ago. They have the pictures but no wedding album.
"It's a girl's dream to get married and have beautiful memories and pictures. I mean basically that is all you have when the day ends," Mary Saxon said.
Jenny and Mark Filuta tied the knot seven years ago; longer than some marriages last.
"It's exciting. I mean I'd love to see the pictures in an album," Jenny Filuta said.
Both couples finally saw their wedding albums for the first time after paying thousands of dollars to their photographer, who never delivered.
"He stole from hundreds of couples and that's a lot of money and a lot of heartache," Mark Filuta said.
The couples came to the city attorney's office in downtown L.A. after the albums were turned over by their wedding photographer Alan Brent. They had filed charges against Brent last year after we exposed him stealing newlyweds' memories.
With a hidden camera our producer posed as a bride-to-be to hear his pitch about expensive albums that he said would be delivered on time.
"It takes the album company three to four weeks to make the albums," Brent said while our camera rolled.
But then we heard from a group of newlyweds.
"I wouldn't trust my daughters wedding to an [expletive] like you," a woman said to Brent.
They confronted the photographer to say their memories were stolen.
"You take our memories and destroy them, no one can get that back."
Brent was eventually charged with six counts of fraud. The case is still pending but he has turned over photos of 81 couples to try and settle the case.
The Filuta's and Saxton's were the first hoping to see the expensive albums. But it didn't happen.
"Yeah it was nice to see them but just the overall quality was terrible and not something I wanted," Jenny Filuta said.
The Filuta's name was misspelled and neither couple took their albums because of the poor quality.
"I'm very disappointed," Mary Saxon said.
So years after they tied the knot, both couples came away empty handed, hoping closure will come not with an album but a criminal conviction.
"I'll be happy when I see him go to jail. That'll be closure."
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