The star of the HBO docuseries “Telemarketers” — which chronicled the chaotic rise of a New Jersey-based call center — reportedly vanished on Friday night and has not been seen or heard from since.
Patrick J. Pespas, a devious salesman with a history of substance abuse, went missing from his home in Easton, Pennsylvania where he was last seen around 8 p.m., the directors of the mini-documentary series said.
“Pat is missing, and [his wife] Sue, his family and friends are very worried about him” co-director Adam Bhala Lough said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “Please put out the word that Pat is missing and help us find him.”
Pespas, 55, and co-director Sam Lipman-Stern were former telemarketers who began investigating the New Jersey-based call center where they worked and the telemarketing industry as a whole after learning their employer Civic Development Group allegedly pocketed the donations people made for different organizations.
Lipman-Stern began documenting their investigation, and together with Bhala Lough, turned the 20-years-worth of footage into the three-part series which aired on HBO in August.
Pespas was last seen in his white Ford Mustang and is believed to be somewhere in New Jersey, Bhala Lough said.
He shared photos of the vehicle as well as a recent photo of Pespas to X, asking for anyone in the area to be on the lookout and to contact findpatpespas@gmail.com with any tips or leads.
Pespas has struggled with heroin addiction in the past but said that he had stopped using the drug later in the docuseries. He relies on methadone to survive his past addiction, according to his wife.
The documentary series subject may have been seen at a bar in Pittsburgh Saturday night, according to a tipster but that information has not been confirmed, Bhala Lough said in an update Sunday evening.