It got took on book, sheriff’s office says

Pulaski County sheriff ’s office employees who paid upfront for a department yearbook are out of luck and out of at least $60 each, according to sheriff’s office officials.

For a year, the sheriff’s office and the Georgia-based APL Imaging worked together on the project, which included a two-week stint in which photographers shot pictures of the office’s entire staff, spokesman Lt. Carl Minden said. But now, the contractor is missing.

In a departmentwide email sent Thursday, the sheriff’s office staff learned that APL Imaging had stopped responding to all phone calls and emails.

“The company’s owner has a history of scamming consumers by taking their money, producing some of the product, not returning call[s], and then filing [for] bankruptcy,” the email said. “There will be no yearbook produced.”

Minden said the company reached out to the sheriff’s office sometime last year and made a pitch about providing a yearbook that could be purchased by individuals within the department.

In June 2012, the sheriff’s office signed off on a contract that stated that the production company would take pictures and do the design and production work for the yearbook, as long as the sheriff’s office helped in providing supplemental information and technical support.

Minden said the sheriff’s office wasn’t financially vested in the agreement and that any orders were placed by individuals.

The spokesman said he didn’t know how many deputies or staff members placed orders or the variety of photo packages they were offered, but he said he paid for a yearbook and he doesn’t expect to ever see one.

“Employees were told to come take their pictures,” Minden said. “No one was told to buy one, just to get your picture made.”