Co-conspirator testifies in real-estate scam trial

Judith Whiting says she falsified documents to secure lines of credit.

By PATRICK MALONE
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

The former lover, employee and accused co-conspirator of an alleged con man testified Thursday that she falsified documents in order to secure lines of credit that kept his suspected mortgage juggling act from crashing.

Judith Whiting, 23, said Maurice Goring's many business interests were failing, so he sought acquaintances with good credit in order to get home loans that he used to finance a lavish lifestyle and pay debts incurred by his failing enterprises.

“You made the Hummer payment or the (Cadillac) Escalade payment or we'd go out to a $200 dinner,” rather than pay mortgages he owed on homes listed in others' names, Whiting testified under cross-examination by Goring, who is acting as his own lawyer.

Goring, 41, was on his way to building a business empire in the Pueblo area. Now he's on trial accused of violating the Colorado Organized Crime Act through theft, forgery and recording of fraudulent documents. His business interests included a restaurant, a hotel, a day-care center, a mortgage lending company, a property management group and an insurance agency.

Whiting (who formerly went by the last names Smith and Katzenberg) testified that Goring used proceeds from home loans issued to others to pay the bills of his other business interests. Eventually, the loans mounted and Goring was responsible for paying mortgages that totaled $100,000 monthly. When he couldn't keep up with the payments, the properties lapsed into foreclosure and the credit of the people he'd enlisted as owners of the properties was ruined.

“(Goring) had no credit,” Whiting testified, but the people he named as owners did. “Essentially, he was paying them to use their credit.”

Whiting said she broke the law at Goring's urging. She wasn't alone. Alvin Jack Woolford, an appraiser from Colorado Springs, had testified that he manipulated property appraisals to match figures established by Goring, and Denise Tucci, a notary public formerly employed as a closer by Security Title, admitted she notarized documents for Goring without the signors present.

Whiting also was the designated recipient of funds at closing that were wrapped into second mortgages. She said the sums were then disbursed to Goring. He could not put his name on the second mortgages because he had brokered the deals. One seller testified that he was saddled with vast tax penalties for the second loans, which were sprung on him at closing.

Goring asked Whiting why she willingly ceded the funds to him and didn't keep them for herself.

“You'd kick my butt like you did a number of other times,” she answered.

Whiting said she and Goring were romantically involved until December. They met in March 2004, when she was working as a waitress at the restaurant Goring owned.

“In hindsight, I see how everything was wrong,” she said. “I never wanted to hurt anybody. He said we were helping people. The work always overlapped with the personal (relationship).”

They lived together in Pueblo and Phoenix. Whiting said their tastes were extravagant, but no bills were ever paid directly. She said they relied on her parents to make her $200 a month car payment and to buy Christmas presents for Goring's children, despite enjoying such indulgences as owning four $1,000 dogs and occupying a loft in downtown Phoenix at various times.

Ultimately, their pricey cars were repossessed and both declared bankruptcy. Whiting declared $2 million in debt, and she estimated Goring owed creditors $8 million at the time of his bankruptcy. She said like Goring's accusers, it will be difficult to repair her credit.

Whiting was indicted along with Goring. She pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of misdemeanor forgery and was sentenced to probation. District Judge Rosalie Vigna ordered her to pay $30,000 restitution.

Goring also took the stand on Thursday. He said his business ventures were well-intentioned, but grew beyond his grasp.

“I was totally overburdened,” he said. “I had a significant amount of money I had to raise every month to meet my obligations. It became at a point overwhelming.”

Goring said he was optimistic about the future of the Pueblo real estate market, and wanted to bring in others who could benefit from it.

“I was a sucker, and I still am” for people confronted with hard times, he said. The remark elicited reactions of disgust from some of his accusers, who were sitting in the gallery.

Goring said he hoped to keep his enterprises afloat until the housing market in Pueblo improved.

“I was waiting for that day,” he said. “I knew that I could do it. We just needed one break and we could be wealthy. Even though the belief was there and the optimism was there, the reality was it was never coming.”

Goring will be on the stand under cross-examination by Deputy District Attorney Ed Arcuri when the trial resumes this morning.