ARMITAGE, from page 1 Wedding photographer has three years to pay $24,600
A local wedding photographer who failed to deliver pictures to more than 100 newlyweds agreed on Wednesday to pay $24,600 in restitution to the couples who hired her.
The agreement concluded more than a year of legal trouble for Juli Anne Armitage, who in May pleaded no contest to four of 17 criminal counts of fraud levied by City Hall.
“I don’t mind paying because I did collect that money,” Armitage said. “What I don’t like is being called a thief and a fraud.”
Charges were filed against Armitage in December. But Armitage said she was wronged by the City Attorney’s Office because it seized her computer, files and 10 boxes of negatives in March of 2002, leaving her without a way to contact clients or make good on her contracts.
Armitage said the City Attorney’s Office refused to release her property for close to nine months before it filed the charges. It wasn’t until she demanded that her belongings be returned that charges were filed against her.
“I didn’t even have a way to contact clients,” she said. “I had to wait for people to start hunting me down and of course I didn’t handle it that well. I got so emotionally distressed.”
Armitage said her bad bookkeeping and lack of business sense led to her current situation. After being charged with 17 counts of fraud, Armitage missed a series of court dates and was taken into custody on a bench warrant in April. She spent 12 days in jail and worked out a plea that eventually left her with one charge of fraud and formal probation because she returned the missing photos.
Armitage, now a resident of Ventura, worked out the restitution formula with Public Defender Kerry Golub and Deputy City Attorney Adam Radinsky.
Radinsky said Wednesday’s agreement came after the last box of missing photos was discovered in a drawer in the courtroom of Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Bernard Kamins. Armitage had brought the photos in during an earlier hearing and they had been misplaced by court workers.
Of the 55 couples the City Attorney’s Office represented, 49 have gotten back some or all of their wedding photos, Radinsky said. But Armitage, who required a down payment, didn’t show up for six weddings and is now required to pay back the full amount to the couples, Radinsky said.
Under the restitution compensation plan, an undelivered wedding album is worth $500 and a missed engagement photo session is worth $300, while parent albums are valued at $225 and gift albums are $60, Radinsky said.
Armitage is required to pay at least $300 a month towards the $24,600 and must pay the full amount by the time her probation expires in May of 2006. Radinsky said many of the couples did not pay Armitage the full fee and others latched onto the criminal charges too late, precluding them from seeking restitution in this action.
“We were really pleased that virtually all the people got their negatives, as well as a large number of prints,” he said. “For those remaining people (who did not receive restitution) they would be free to pursue a separate civil action.”
Armitage said she is now working part-time as a waitress in Ventura. Despite her skills as a photographer, she said she is unsure if she will return to the profession. She is even considering relocating because of the national media coverage her case received.
She said the 12 days she spent in jail left a lasting impression.
“I learned a lot,” she said. “I learned to take the law more seriously. I learned patience.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 21, 2003. Read the original PDF.