Steven Kunes
Steven Kunes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1956 |
| Alma mater | New York University |
| Occupation(s) | Screenwriter, author, and playwright |
 | This article may have been created or edited in return for undisclosed payments, a violation of Wikipedia's terms of use. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. (August 2018) |
Steven Kunes (born 1956) is an American screenwriter, author, and playwright. He has been convicted of felony commercial burglary and grand theft by false pretenses.
Background and early career
Kunes was born in 1956 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.[citation needed] He graduated in 1974 from Neshaminy High School,[1] and attended college at New York University.
Legal troubles
In 1982, Kunes attempted to sell to People magazine an interview with reclusive author J. D. Salinger, whom he claimed he had met. Salinger sued and settled the case under the conditions that Kunes was "permanently enjoined from representing by any means that he is associated with Salinger", barred from "exhibiting, transmitting or exhibiting documents, writing or statements attributed to Salinger" and "required to collect and turn over any such documents or writings for destruction". The interview was never published.[2][3] He later succeeded in selling a fake interview with Jimmy Buffett to the Santa Barbara Daily Sound.[4]
Kunes was arrested on March 17, 2011, for purportedly swindling his friend, former Café Buenos Aires owner Wally Ronchietto, out of $2,000 for a nonexistent movie deal.[4] On April 23, 2011, Noozhawk, a Santa Barbara online publication, announced that it had removed six of Kunes' articles from its digital archives as two contained plagiarized passages.[5]
On August 27, 2011, a Santa Barbara judge issued a $200,000 bench warrant for his arrest when he failed to appear in court.[6] Thought to have been hiding in Bucks County, he was apprehended in New Jersey less than a month later. [7] At court, Kunes pleaded guilty and admitted to forging checks.[8] On May 4, 2012, he was sentenced to five years in jail for felony commercial burglary and grand theft by false pretenses. A plea deal allowed for a sentence of only four years if Kunes had paid restitution to his victims, but no payments were made.[9][10] In February 2013, Kunes was re-arrested. He had been serving his five-year sentence and had been approved for electronic monitoring on August 1, 2012. Kunes removed the device on August 22, 2012, and mailed the device back to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office. A photo posted on the Sheriff's Office Facebook page led to his identification at a Carpinteria cafe and his subsequent arrest.[11][12] He was released from prison in June 2015 but arrested again for violating the terms of his probation after falsely telling the Bucks County Courier Times that he was producing a Netflix series called Over My Dead Body.[1][12]
References
- ^ a b Sipes, Adrian (January 22, 2016). "Steven Kunes, bogus Netflix producer, in Bucks County prison". Bucks County Courier Times. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
- ^ Weber, Myles. "Augmenting the Salinger Oeuvre by Any Means" in Bloom, Harold, ed. J. D. Salinger New York: Infobase Publishing ("Bloom's Modern Critical Views" series), 2008; pp. 199, 202, 210
- ^ Associated Press "Lawsuit by Salinger muzzles his imitator" Ottawa Citizen November 5, 1982, p. 65, col. 1
- ^ a b Hayden, Tyler. "A Tale Stranger Than Fiction: Hollywood Screenwriter with History of Mischief Accused of Theft". Santa Barbara Independent. Santa Barbara, California. Retrieved August 27, 2011.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Magnoli, Giana (May 4, 2011). "Accused Forger, Plagiarist Steven Kunes Appears in Court: The Santa Barbara man, who submitted apparent cribbed commentaries to local publications, is also suspected of trying to pass $12,000 in bad checks". Noozhawk. Santa Barbara and Goleta, California. Retrieved August 27, 2011.
- ^ Hayden, Tyler (August 27, 2011). "Judge Issues Warrant for Wanted Screenwriter: Steven Kunes, Charged with Felony Forgery and Grand Theft, Fails to Appear in Court". Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved August 27, 2011.
- ^ Finley, Ben; Dan Perez (September 16, 2011). "Cops: Neshaminy grad wrote more than just scripts in California". phillyBurbs.com. Philadelphia. Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
- ^ Hayden, Tyler (November 29, 2011). "Steven Kunes Admits to Forging Checks and Scamming Friend: Will Spend Four or Five Years Behind Bars, Depending on Restitution to Victims". Santa Barbara Independent. Santa Barbara, California. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
- ^ Hayden, Tyler (May 8, 2012). "Scheming Screenwriter Sentenced to Five Years". Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
- ^ Magnoli, Giana (May 4, 2012). "Check Forger Steven Kunes Sentenced to 5 Years in Santa Barbara County Jail". Noozhawk. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
- ^ Nelson, Michelle (February 25, 2013). "Facebook Photo Leads to Arrest of Fugitive Steven Kunes". Noozhawk. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
- ^ a b Garcia, Léna (January 22, 2016). "Former-Montecito Conman Arrested in Pennsylvania". Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
External links
Media related to Steven Kunes at Wikimedia Commons
