Duplicity - A True Story of Crime and Deceit

by Paul T. Goldman

  “Ms. Munson, do you recognize this email?” Adam asked, as if she might offer a response other than “no.”

  “It seems like an ‘insertion’ of an email.”

  “What?”

  “It looks like an ‘insertion’ of an email.”

  “Ms. Munson, this is your email address, Lady underscore Audrey at mail.com, is it not? And this is Royce’s email address. Ms. Munson, did you write this email?”

  “No.”

  “Ms. Munson, what is a ‘dong dip?’”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Okay. Ms. Munson, would you please read this email to the court, dated August 18, 2008, written by Royce Rocco to you, and written during the time you were reconciled with Mr. Goldman after your marital counseling?”

  Go back to your plastic surgeon and have a breast exam. I think you have encapsulation with your implants and they should be checked.

  “Ms. Munson, do you have breast implants?”

  “Yes.” This seemed to be obvious proof that Audrey and Royce had sex while we were married. I looked over at the judge to see if he made the connection, but again, his expression revealed nothing. Adam continued, moving on to questions regarding the trip Audrey made with Royce to Georgia barely three weeks after our wedding.

  “Ms. Munson, let me now read to you a portion of Royce Rocco’s sworn deposition of August 20, 2009:

  Question – Where have you traveled with her? Answer – Savannah, Georgia, the hurricane with the kids. Question – How long? Answer – It was probably a five day thing. Question – Where did you stay? Answer – A nice motel in downtown Savannah.

  Adam finished reading the interview and stared at Audrey, allowing her to realize Royce’s slip-up. He then continued, “Now, Ms. Munson, did you take a trip with Mr. Rocco to Savannah, Georgia in late October, 2007, barely three weeks after marrying Mr. Goldman?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, Ms. Munson, let’s take a look at your bank debit charges for that time period. I see a charge at the Circle K for $2.10 on October 25, 2007 in Talahi Island, Georgia, a charge at Wal-Mart for $13.78 on October 25, 2007 in Savannah, Georgia. Ms. Munson, did you make these charges?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, Ms. Munson, now let’s take a look at your cell phone bill for October 2007, and there is a call to Howard Johnson’s Motel in Savannah, Georgia on October 23, 2007. Ms. Munson, did you make this call?”

  “No.”

  “I don’t understand, Ms. Munson, what do you mean? These are your bank debit charges, this is your cell phone number, correct?”

  “Well, other people have access to my cell phone and my debit card.”

  “Other people? Like whom?” Adam tilted his head in innocent curiosity, showing two could play at this game.

  “Like my parents, or my children.”

  “Ms. Munson, are you saying that it was your parents or your children who took this trip to Georgia with Royce?” Audrey responded with only a blank expression.

  I wanted to scream, “Make her answer!” but I remembered my promise to Adam to trust him, and kept quiet. So, Adam finished his questioning with the phone calls Audrey made to Royce on the day of our wedding and on our wedding night.

  “Ms. Munson, please take a look at these phone logs, records of phone calls made from your cell phone which we obtained during the discovery period. Now, Ms. Munson, I refer you to three calls made to Royce Rocco on September 18, 2007, during the day of your marriage to Mr. Goldman, and three calls made to Royce Rocco on your honeymoon night, one at 11:30, one at 11:45, and one at 12:14 a.m. Ms. Munson, did you make these calls?”

  “No.”

  “I don’t understand, Ms. Munson. This is your cell phone log. This is your cell phone number, is it not?”

  “Well, other people have access to my cell phone.”

  “Other people? Like whom?”

  “Like my parents, or my children.”

  By this time, it seemed that Audrey’s pattern of denial was clear, not only to me, but to everyone in the courtroom. She was selling, but nobody was buying. Adam ended his questioning there, choosing not to confront her with the prostitution charge as I would have plenty to testify to that. Audrey was dismissed, slowly made her way down from the witness stand, and returned to her table, seemingly unmoved by the entire proceeding.

  I realized that Audrey was a complete sociopath. She had no soul. No wonder she could play me like a violin, and have no remorse. She tore my life apart, pretended to be my loving wife. Pretended to be a loving mother to Johnny. I thought back to all her deceptive stories she told me about her life, simply lies rehearsed with dozens of boyfriends over the years. I remembered the way she made love, a choreography, perfected with literally thousands of men, performed completely without feeling.

  I did my best to clear my mind and calm down, so I could present the truth in a non-emotional and convincing way. A truth that I'd been dying to tell the world for so long.

  It was, finally, my turn to testify.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  My Testimony

  April 5, 2010

  I took the stand, and raised my right hand to swear that my testimony was truthful, thinking, this will be a stark contrast to the performance that had just concluded. Though I had been a bundle of nerves leading up to this moment, I felt an amazing sense of clarity come over me. I made a quick survey of the people in the courtroom. I could see they were eager to hear “the rest of the story.” Adam approached me and nodded slightly in reassurance.

  “Mr. Goldman, I know you've been very anxious to be here today. After all the delays, we're here now. Please begin by telling the court a little bit about your background.”

  I took a deep breath, and began the true story.

  “I was born and raised in Rhode Island, went to Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and then Boston College grad school, where I received my M.B.A. degree. After grad school, I moved to southern California where I had decided to try and make it on my own. I didn't want to be a cog in the family wheel, in my father's business, insurance. I got a few average jobs, mostly in, of all things, insurance.”

  “What was your life like in California?” Adam asked.

  “My life was predictable, uneventful and stable, but there was a lot missing, such as financial achievement, and a family. I wouldn't be sitting here today if I had just gone along with my life as it was. But I decided to change my life, and took a trip to Russia where I met my first wife, Talia. Unfortunately, things didn't work out between us, but I don't regret it since I have my beautiful Johnny.”

  “Objection, Your Honor. Relevancy.” Peter Walton proclaimed. Judge Andrews told me to get to the point.

  “Yes, Your Honor. So, here I was, now mid-forties, still with the same kind of dead-end insurance job, only now in Florida. My marriage had crashed, and Johnny's mother was in New York. I was overwhelmed by the understanding that to give Johnny the best possible upbringing, my four year old son desperately needed a mommy. So I took another leap of faith, and joined a Jewish internet dating service, Jewish Singles.

  “How did you feel when you first met Ms. Munson?” Adam asked, his hand extending in Audrey’s direction.

  “When I met Audrey, I thought I'd finally found the love of my life. She was everything that I had been looking for: smart, attractive, and family-oriented. My son, Johnny fit right in the middle of her three children's ages. Our wedding day was the happiest day of my life.”

  “Mr. Goldman, how did you uncover your wife’s double life?” Adam asked, his tone changing to one of disgust.

  “I'm not going to repeat to 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. In reality, she needed those days and nights free to ply her trade. It's been shown how duped I was, that she was sleeping with Royce the entire time we were married, probably in my bed while I was in my Boynton Beach h
ouse.” Peter Walton got up from his seat.

  “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 the judge, I simply said blandly, “Yes, Your Honor.”

  “Mr. Goldman, please continue where you left off,” Adam continued, to refocus the court on the facts of my testimony. “You were telling us about your part-time marriage.”

  “Right. Yes, it really was a part-time marriage and a total sham on top of that. Audrey asked me to put her name on my assets only four months into this bogus marriage. I was suspicious. Then, she conned me out of seven thousand dollars by creating the fake FLHC Corporation and getting me to write a check to it. At the same time this was happening with her, in August of 2008, my business supervisor Daniel absconded with a ton of money causing my business to fail. The combination of these things was my wake-up call. I knew I had reached a turning point in my life.”

  “Please explain, Mr. Goldman,” Adam prompted.

  “I could no longer live the 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 inner strength to protect myself, my assets, and my Johnny from Audrey, this sociopath who would, without any emotion or remorse, take everything from us.” My words came tumbling out and it felt like there was no one else in the courtroom except me, Adam, and the judge. Even Audrey was a distant blur, sitting silently in her seat.

  “Tell us what happened this past August?”

  “I picked up Audrey’s cell phone logs from your office on August 1st, and when I started flipping through them, I saw a ton of calls to this one number. I thought 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 the bottom of the stack, to September 2007, and saw that she made three calls to the number on our wedding day, and three calls that night, after our honeymoon evening when I was asleep, with my new bride next to me. She called him at 11:30, 11:45 and 12:14. I put that number into Google search, and up popped a website of a guy selling a boat, and it said ‘call Royce,’ and gave the number. I called Bob Thompson, 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 was the reason he had the court order a DNA test on Tommy, because he thought it might be Royce’s child.”

  “Then what did you do?”

  “I began my analysis of the phone numbers. First, I added up the times she called Royce, and it came to 300 calls a month, month after month, year after year. Then I noticed another number which was called 150 times per month for a year, and I called this number. What I got was a recording: ‘This is AT&T. If you have a voice mail box on this system, please enter it now.’ That was strange, since Audrey already had voice mail on her cell phone. Then I entered all the other numbers into the Google search, and about one out of every ten came back with a name and address, the others came back with ‘not found.’ But one out of ten was enough, and at the end, I had a list of hundreds of names and addresses, all different men, all called once and once only.”

  I paused for a moment. “So, ten calls a day to and from Royce, and then afterwards, calls to collect messages, then calls to men, then a gap of an hour or two, then the pattern repeated. Calls to hotels, calls to some girls, and calls to Palm Beach Bail Bonds. What would a stay-at-home mom be doing calling and receiving calls from Palm Beach Bail Bonds? At first, I simply didn’t believe it, so in order to get confirmation, I hired the investigators, to get the proof of her frauds and confirm my suspicions that my wife was a working prostitute while we were married. They followed her to Sandsprit Park, where she meets weekly with her girls to do their paperwork.”

  “Objection.” Peter Walton rose again. I had actually been waiting for it, surprised that he let me get away with my working prostitute remark. Either he didn’t believe it bore any weight, or he was as captivated by the story as the rest of the courtroom. In the meantime, Judge Andrews looked at me with a “you knew that was coming” look.

  “Sustained,” he said.

  “It's all in their report, and on videotape, right there on that desk,” I explained, pointing to our desk where the pile of exhibits rested. “They also followed her on that Friday night last November, when she drove to two different communities in Boca, one at 10:00 p.m. and one at midnight. That's the pattern of a prostitute, not a stay-at-home mom!” My voice had raised as the emotions I’d been squelching started to bubble up. I took a deep breath and calmed down. “Your Honor, it’s still hard to believe. Sometimes I feel like I’ve been living in “The Twilight Zone.” I married a thief, a liar, a con artist, and a prostitute.”

  Peter Walton objected again.

  “Sustained. Mr. Goldman... ” the judge began.

  “I know, Your Honor. Sorry,” I said with a slight grin. Too late. It's all part of the public record now, I thought, with satisfaction. Adam, however, must have thought he better end this before I got a contempt of court citation.

  “Mr. Goldman, I think you’ve covered everything. Anything else to add?”

  “Yes. In the last few months, I have done everything in my power to stop Audrey Munson from committing crimes against me, and against others. Today, Audrey is trying to steal half the equity of my California townhouse. I am determined not to allow her to do this to me, and to my son. But this time, I cannot do it alone. My son and I need your help, Your Honor. Thank you.”

  “Thank you very much, Mr. Goldman,” said Adam. He returned to his seat at the table, and, as he turned his back to me, I mentally prepared myself for what was to come, thinking how glad I was that Walton wasn't quicker on the draw. I had gotten into the public record everything that I'd wanted to, and I knew the cross would go just as well. Peter Walton rose from his seat and approached me.

  “Mr. Goldman, would you please read this email from you to Ms. Munson, written by you during your engagement period?” I looked in his eyes with a level gaze, took the paper, and began to read:

  As far as my ability to support a large family, my business is doing very well, grossing almost two hundred thousand a month.

  I looked back up at him, shrugging my shoulders. What exactly was he trying to prove with this?

  “Mr. Goldman, why did you write this email?”

  “Because Audrey kept asking me to detail my financial situation,” I answered matter-of-factly.

  “Mr. Goldman, would you please read this email that you wrote to Ms. Munson a few months after your marriage to her?”

  Dear Audrey, it has now been a little over two months since we were married, and I want to tell you what a joy it is being married to you. Even though we only spend half the week together, I feel that we have created a bond between us, which will only deepen with time. I hope we will have the wisdom to compromise and overcome any future problems that develop between us, because I truly feel that you are the love of my life and that we should be together forever.

  Again, I looked up at Audrey’s lawyer, unsure as to why he was making me read this. My own lawyer seized an opportunity.

  “Mr. Goldman, isn’t it a shame that while you were writing love letters to your wife, she was writing love letters to Royce?”

  With that, someone in the courtroom actually started to clap before being quickly muffled. It didn’t matter. Adam had effectively delivered the first home run of the day. Any hope Peter Walton had of painting me as a welcher was now gone and, acknowledging his failure, I was quickly dismissed.

  Happy to be back at our table, I struggled to keep myself from openly high-fiving Adam, though the look we exchanged said enough. This was ours for the taking. We had one more thing to do before popping the cork on the champagne, however. It was time for the final arguments. Adam spoke first, keeping his statements direct and effec
tual.

  “Your Honor, let me quote from the Florida ‘Presumption of Gift’ statute, and, contained in the statute, the things that can legally ‘rebut’ the presumption of gift. They are: One, the contribution of each spouse to the marriage. Clearly, while Mr. Goldman contributed 100% to the marriage, Ms. Munson, if such a thing is possible, had a negative contribution. Two, the length of the marriage. Fifty-six days, Your Honor. They lived together as husband and wife for only fifty-six days. Three, fairness. It simply would not be fair to Mr. Goldman, Your Honor, to give Ms. Munson a windfall for a fifty-six day marriage.” Adam thanked the judge, and returned to his seat while Peter Walton was already standing.

  “Your Honor, Mr. Goldman is a welcher. The house was a gift, per the statute. Ms. Munson is entitled to half the equity in the California house, half the amount of money that was in Mr. Goldman’s business checking account on September 15, 2008, the day the divorce was filed, half the money that was in Mr. Goldman’s personal checking account on the day the divorce was filed, and legal fees.” With that, Peter Walton also turned to take his seat, but the judge stopped him in his tracks.

  “Okay, I am going to give my ruling,” Judge Andrews declared, and I watched as Peter Walton’s face froze. He paused before quickly sitting down. The judge continued, “Mr. Nettles, please prepare the final ruling.” Though I didn’t know it at the time, the lawyer whom the judge tells to prepare the judgment is the “winning” lawyer. Adam was trying to conceal a smile as he picked up his pen.

  Judge Andrews continued to speak. “First of all, I’ll find that the marriage is irretrievably broken. The divorce is granted.

  “Mrs. Munson’s testimony is not credible. She is willing to lie and misrepresent when it suits her purpose, specifically admitting creating two dummy entities to collect money from Mr. Goldman under false pretenses.

  “Second, Mrs. Munson clearly lied in her application for Welfare.