Duplicity - A True Story of Crime and Deceit Paul Goldman (the mitten read aloud .txt) 📖
- Author: Paul Goldman
Book online «Duplicity - A True Story of Crime and Deceit Paul Goldman (the mitten read aloud .txt) 📖». Author Paul Goldman
“Mr. Goldman, I knowyou've been very anxious to be here today. After all the delays,we're here now. Please begin by telling the court a little bitabout your background.”
I took a deep breath, and began the truestory.
“I was born and raised inRhode Island, went to Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and thenBoston College grad school, where I received my M.B.A. degree.After grad school, I moved to southern California where I haddecided to try and make it on my own. I didn't want to be a cog inthe family wheel, in my father's business, insurance. I got a fewaverage jobs, mostly in, of all things, insurance.”
“What was your life likein California?” Adam asked.
“My life was predictable,uneventful and stable, but there was a lot missing, such asfinancial achievement, and a family. I wouldn't be sitting heretoday if I had just gone along with my life as it was. But Idecided to change my life, and took a trip to Russia where I met myfirst wife, Talia. Unfortunately, things didn't work out betweenus, but I don't regret it since I have my beautifulJohnny.”
“Objection, Your Honor.Relevancy.” Peter Walton proclaimed. Judge Andrews told me to getto the point.
“Yes, Your Honor. So, hereI was, now mid-forties, still with the same kind of dead-endinsurance job, only now in Florida. My marriage had crashed, andJohnny's mother was in New York. I was overwhelmed by theunderstanding that to give Johnny the best possible upbringing, myfour year old son desperately needed a mommy. So I took anotherleap of faith, and joined a Jewish internet dating service,Jewish Singles.
“How did you feel when youfirst met Ms. Munson?” Adam asked, his hand extending in Audrey’sdirection.
“When I met Audrey, Ithought I'd finally found the love of my life. She was everythingthat I had been looking for: smart, attractive, andfamily-oriented. My son, Johnny fit right in the middle of herthree children's ages. Our wedding day was the happiest day of mylife.”
“Mr. Goldman, how did youuncover your wife’s double life?” Adam asked, his tone changing toone of disgust.
“I'm not going to repeatto the court everything that's been proven in the last six hours.It's been shown that she defrauded me right from the get-go,telling me she had to be in Cocoa Beach four days of the week. Inreality, she needed those days and nights free to ply her trade.It's been shown how duped I was, that she was sleeping with Roycethe entire time we were married, probably in my bed while I was inmy Boynton Beach house.” Peter Walton got up from hisseat.
“Objection, Your Honor.There’s no evidence of that.”
“Sustained. Mr. Goldman,no more conclusions without evidence.”
We'll get to the evidence soon enough, Mr.Walton, I thought to myself, and inwardly grinned. But, to thejudge, I simply said blandly, “Yes, Your Honor.”
“Mr. Goldman, pleasecontinue where you left off,” Adam continued, to refocus the courton the facts of my testimony. “You were telling us about yourpart-time marriage.”
“Right. Yes, it really wasa part-time marriage and a total sham on top of that. Audrey askedme to put her name on my assets only four months into this bogusmarriage. I was suspicious. Then, she conned me out of seventhousand dollars by creating the fake FLHC Corporation and getting me towrite a check to it. At the same time this was happening with her,in August of 2008, my business supervisor Daniel absconded with aton of money causing my business to fail. The combination of thesethings was my wake-up call. I knew I had reached a turning point inmy life.”
“Please explain, Mr.Goldman,” Adam prompted.
“I could no longer livethe same way I'd been living the first forty-five years of my life.I could continue to be a patsy, a wimp, a mark, or find the innerstrength to protect myself, my assets, and my Johnny from Audrey,this sociopath who would, without any emotion or remorse, takeeverything from us.” My words came tumbling out and it felt likethere was no one else in the courtroom except me, Adam, and thejudge. Even Audrey was a distant blur, sitting silently in herseat.
“Tell us what happenedthis past August?”
“I picked up Audrey’s cellphone logs from your office on August 1st, and when I startedflipping through them, I saw a ton of calls to this one number. Ithought it was her new boyfriend, and I wondered when she met him.I started flipping farther and farther down the stack, May, April,March, and still lots of calls to this number. So, I looked at thebottom of the stack, to September 2007, and saw that she made threecalls to the number on our wedding day, and three calls that night,after our honeymoon evening when I was asleep, with my new bridenext to me. She called him at 11:30, 11:45 and 12:14. I put thatnumber into Google search, and up popped a website of a guy sellinga boat, and it said ‘call Royce,’ and gave the number. I called BobThompson, and asked him if he knew anybody by the name of Royce,and he told me Royce was Audrey’s lover since 2003, and that wasthe reason he had the court order a DNA test on Tommy, because hethought it might be Royce’s child.”
“Then what did you do?”
“I began my analysis of the phonenumbers. First, I added up the times she called Royce, and it cameto 300 calls a month, month after month, year after year. Then Inoticed another number which was called 150 times per month for ayear, and I called this number. What I got was a recording: ‘Thisis AT&T. If you have a voice mail box on this system, pleaseenter it now.’ That was strange, since Audrey already had voicemail on her cell phone. Then I entered all the other numbers intothe Google search, and about one out of every ten came back with aname and address, the others came back with ‘not found.’ But oneout of ten was enough, and at the end, I had a list of hundreds ofnames and addresses, all different men, all called once and onceonly.”
I paused for a moment. “So, tencalls a day to and from Royce,
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