Pat Pespas, star of HBO’s N.J.-based ‘Telemarketers’ docudrama, is missing

Police and friends say Pat Pespas — one of the call center operators who sought to expose graft and corruption in the HBO docuseries “Telemarketers” — has gone missing.

“His wife, family and friends are all very worried about him,” his co-star in the docuseries, Sam Lipman-Stern, wrote on Instagram.

Police in Easton, Pa., said Pespas, 54, was last seen in that city on Friday, and may be operating a white 2002 Ford Mustang with the New Jersey license plate N74KUB. A media alert said “police are concerned for his well-being.”

The series features footage Pespas and Lipman-Stern shot in the early 2000s at the Civic Development Group, a New Brunswick, N.J.-based telemarketing firm that would later pay a record $18.8 million FTC settlement for convincing consumers they were donating to fire, police and veterans’ charities, while barely any of the money CDG collected went to those groups. Their footage shows workers giving each other tattoos, doing drugs and wrestling in the office while talking to customers on the phone. Later episodes chronicle their adventures over two decades investigating the broader telemarketing industry, alleging practices like CDG’s remain widespread and that charity organizations are often in on the scam.

Adam Bhala Lough, who co-directed the series with Lipman-Stern, wrote Sunday on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Pespas may have been seen in a bar in the Pittsburgh area. Police have not released any information about suspected or confirmed sightings.

The series’ directors are asking anyone with information on Pespas to contact [email protected].

In the docuseries, Pespas is described as a “telemarketing legend.” He’s also portrayed as loud, personable and exuberant in nature. Of their work at CDG, Pespas tells Lipman-Stern in Telemarketers: “We call people up on behalf of some bulls— organization, and chisel ’em out of money.” Pespas is frequently seen in his trademark plaid jacket and cowboy hat.

The…