COLLIN COUNTY — A wedding photographer has pleaded guilty to felony theft after defrauding at least a dozen customers.
It all started with an email he sent to the CBS News Texas I-Team in 2022. Maggie Jones hired and paid Olivia Seymour Photography for her engagement and wedding photos, but received nothing but excuses from the photographer.
“I got a message from her saying, ‘I had to cancel because I was in the ER all day,'” Jones said.
She says she received similar reasons for delays every time she tried to book an engagement session.
“It went on for months and months,” she said.
Then, in September 2022, Seymour sent a mass email to 77 customers. In her message, Seymour apologized for “not communicating the best” and explained that she was “a little late” due to personal issues.
That’s when the women started communicating with each other and realized at the last minute that they were receiving the same explanation. At least three people each received photos of the same thermometer on different days. Each time, Seymour said her child was sick and she was on her way to the emergency room.
In one case, two clients were married on the same day, but Mr. Seymour gave the brides different reasons for their absence.
Seymour’s contract allows for another photographer to replace her. Sarah Barrington met with her agent a few hours before the ceremony.
“She said it was her second or third wedding, so she was going to make the best of it,” Barrington said.
Barrington learned of Seymour’s “family emergency” that morning, but her replacement photographer told her she had been hired a week before the wedding.
“It was a very disappointing, very unfortunate day because it was a special day for us,” Barrington said.
It’s not just the bride. At least four photographers say they were also duped.
“At around 9 a.m., she messaged me on Facebook, frantically telling me she had a sick child,” Rachel Stonecipher recalled.
Stonecipher agreed to photograph the wedding, which began at 2pm that day, but said he never received payment.
That’s why Jones wasn’t surprised when Seymour called her just hours before the wedding.
“She was like, ‘Sorry, I just had a car accident and was rear-ended and I’m in the hospital,'” Jones said.
Jones had already booked another photographer.
The night our first report aired, another victim was watching. A Collin County deputy claimed he also hired Seymour, only to stand up. The deputy filed his own report, and the Collin County Sheriff’s Office intervened the next day.
Researchers first contacted the women featured in our report. Both Jones and Barrington were contacted and asked to share their stories.
Investigators discovered disgruntled customers dating back about two years, according to the affidavit. “This incident was not a matter of business mismanagement, but an intentional attempt to deceive and deprive the company of property,” he wrote in court documents.
The sheriff’s office charged Seymour with felony theft, alleging he owed more than $11,000 to 12 women.
After trying to talk to Ms. Seymour for almost two years, we met her outside the courthouse after her court hearing. She denied being Olivia Seymour and said she had no idea what we were talking about.
The case dragged on, with delays for several months, but Seymour eventually pleaded guilty. The judge sentenced her to two years of probation and ordered her to repay Jones and several others.
“Are you grateful for the money?” Jones said. “That’s true. But there are many other brides who didn’t respond to this charge. So she got more money than she ever had to pay back.”
Even though Olivia Seymour Photography has a new bride on the horizon, their long struggle has come to an end. The company appears to still be booking customers online.
Seymour is also the subject of five civil lawsuits filed by women who allege he owes money.
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