Star of HBO docuseries ‘Telemarketers’ back home after disappearing from Northeastern Pennsylvania

The unlikely hero of the HBO docuseries Telemarketers is back home, more than three weeks after he was reported missing out of Easton, Northampton County.

Patrick J. Pespas, 54, of Phillipsburg, N.J., became the lovable antihero of the three-part docuseries that ran this past summer, using his knowledge of questionable telemarketing industry tactics to try to expose the longtime practice. Pespas, who lived in both Plainfield and South Plainfield, N.J., during much of the series’ timeline, was last seen in Easton on Sept. 29.

After reported sightings in New York City and even Pittsburgh, a post on Pespas’s little-used Instagram account reported that he was back home Thursday with his wife, Sue. The post did not delve into specifics about Pespas’ whereabouts but thanked his fans and followers for spreading the word.

“One day, I hope to tell the whole story but for now Pat asks that everyone respects his and Sue’s privacy,” Adam Bhala Lough, who co-directed and produced Telemarketers, said Thursday on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Telemarketers, which debuted in August, introduces viewers to a slew of quirky characters, including co-director Sam Lipman-Stern. Most of them worked for a New Jersey telemarketing company that solicited money from strangers who believed they were helping the families of fallen police officers.

“What we do is we call up people and chisel them out of money,” Pespas says in one of the episodes.

Despite using heroin at work in early footage, Pespas was one of the company’s better employees. He later got sober and joined forces with Lipman-Stern to investigate some of the industry’s tactics. Pespas chased down interviews while holding barbecue platters; the series culminated with his sit-down with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.).

“It was a big-time scam,” Pespas says of the industry.

Pespas, according to Bhala Lough’s X updates, was taking methadone, a widely used and effective treatment for opioid addiction.

The docuseries stretches over 20 years, in which Lipman-Stern stays in and out of touch with Pespas. One episode ended with a cliff-hanger that left viewers wondering whether Pespas, a heavy-metal guitarist, was still alive. Throughout the series, he is portrayed as a devoted caretaker to his wife.