Banker feared exploitation of elderly woman
Executive offered testimony in case of Geraldine Webber
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Portsmouth police Sgt. Aaron Goodwin is involved in a court case alleging he took advantage of an elderly woman to inherit her valuable estate. Goodwin has said “allegations that I exploited a member of our community are completely untrue.”Deb Cram file photo
During a 27-year banking career, a Portsmouth bank executive only once called state officials to report a possible case of financial exploitation. The person she thought might be "taking advantage of" an elderly and wealthy bank customer was Portsmouth police Sgt. Aaron Goodwin.
That testimony was offered by a senior executive for a downtown Portsmouth bank during a sworn deposition on Feb. 11 in the Shaines and McEachern law office. The deposition was taken as part of a dispute over the last will and trust for the late Geraldine Webber, who changed her estate plans shortly before her December 2012 death, so Goodwin would inherit her riverfront home, stocks, bonds and Cadillac.
Multiple parties are alleging Goodwin exerted undue influence over Webber, who had been diagnosed with dementia.
During her deposition last month, the Portsmouth banker said she and another bank employee phoned the New Hampshire Bureau of Elderly & Adult Services because they were "concerned" about possible "financial abuse" of Webber by Goodwin. The banker said Webber had a checking account, savings account, certificates of deposit worth about $350,000 and a safe deposit box with unknown contents.
Webber's "financial capacity" had diminished, said the banker, who explained that Webber had lost the keys to her safe deposit box, forgot to cash checks, lost checks and was carrying large amounts of cash.
Webber, who was in her 90s when the bank executive began keeping notes about her, had also "lost her attention for dealing with money," the banker said. When asked during her deposition why she thought that, the banker explained, "I just felt she was losing her patience with dealing with her finances, her money."
Webber had also told someone at the bank that she'd gone to junior high school with the deposed banker, who said that was untrue and "just strange."
"She was not making good decisions," the banker is quoted as saying in the deposition.
The banker and the bank are named in the deposition, but are not in this story because neither is accused of wrongdoing.
Goodwin said "allegations that I exploited a member of our community are completely untrue."
During her deposition with several lawyers last month, the Portsmouth bank executive said she first met Goodwin on Jan. 25, 2011, when he went to the bank with Webber, who introduced him as "her new friend and someone that would be helping her." Goodwin was not in uniform and introduced himself "as a Portsmouth police detective, but he said he wasn't calling in that capacity," the banker said during her deposition.
Webber talked about wanting to find a new lawyer, made a deposit and canceled the contract for her safe deposit box, while opening a new account for a new box, the banker said. Webber's longtime lawyer, James Ritzo, had conducted prior banking transactions for her and was her power of attorney at the time, according to the deposition.
On Jan. 10, 2010, the bank executive said, she had a telephone conversation with Goodwin, who said he was concerned about a banking transaction that was made for Webber by Ritzo the previous July.
The banker said that transaction was "not an unusual transaction" and another bank official had confirmed with Webber at the time that Ritzo conducted it the way she wanted him to.
Goodwin asked for copies of notes about that transaction, but the bank did not comply because Ritzo had power of attorney and bank officials decided "not to leak confidential information," according to the deposition.
Goodwin's telephone inquiry, said the banker, began with him saying he was a Portsmouth police detective who was "not calling in that capacity," instead as "a friend of Geraldine's."
While being deposed, the banker said Goodwin went to the bank with Webber on Feb. 15, 2011, "to do some banking and they were still looking for the safe deposit key" Webber lost. Ritzo was named as co-owner of her safe deposit box, but if he ever had one of two keys issued to unlock it, bank records show he never used it, according to the deposition.
On July 29, 2011, Goodwin and Webber again went to the bank and had the safe deposit box drilled open, the bank executive said. According to the deposition, Goodwin signed a card indicating he went into a private room with Webber to examine the contents of the safe deposit box.
The banker said she was "concerned" because Webber "had always trusted" Ritzo and the banker was "uncomfortable with the relationship" Webber had formed with Goodwin.
"It concerned me that she was putting a lot of trust into Aaron, you know, so quickly," the banker said. "It was a new relationship for us at the bank; whether she had known him prior to her introducing him to us, I can't say."
The banker said Webber also mentioned wanting to leave Goodwin her house and that Goodwin said she didn't have to do that. According to the banker's deposition, she and a colleague were concerned Webber was being financially exploited and when asked by whom, the banker answered "Aaron Goodwin."
The two bankers called the state Bureau of Elderly & Adult Services and reported their concerns, but never heard anything from the state office in response, according to the deposition.
Goodwin previously provided Seacoast Media Group with two letters from the bureau saying investigations were conducted with regard to allegations that he exploited Webber financially and the bureau determined the allegations were "unfounded." The letters are dated June 12, 2012, and Sept. 19, 2012.
Webber died Dec. 11, 2012, at age 93. A trial to hear evidence in the dispute over her last will and trust is scheduled for January 2015.
Goodwin is being represented by attorney Charles Doleac, while attorney Gary Holmes, who drafted Webber's final will and trust, is being represented by attorney Ralph Holmes.
When Webber signed her final estate documents, she was video-recorded and made sexual comments about Goodwin.
Portsmouth attorney Paul McEachern has called the estate dispute "a matter of official corruption" and successfully argued for the case to be heard in public. McEachern is representing several people who were named in a will Ritzo wrote for Webber in 2009, but were cut, or named as lesser beneficiaries in her last will and trust.
Manchester attorney David Eby is representing the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Society and The Shriner's Hospital for Children. His clients were each $500,000 beneficiaries under the 2009 will Ritzo wrote for Webber, then named as $80,000 beneficiaries under the 2012 estate plans drafted by Holmes.
Eby alleges Goodwin befriended Webber, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2010, before helping her visit "more than one attorney for the purpose of changing her estate plan."
Portsmouth City Attorney Robert Sullivan has represented the city's police and fire departments. By terms of Webber's 2009 will, the departments were each designated to receive one-quarter of Webber's estate, after the sale of her home and assets. In the will and trust Webber endorsed in 2012, the departments are each named as $25,000 beneficiaries.
Webber's disabled grandson Brett is represented by attorney Lisa Bellanti. Webber's only living heir, he was excluded from the 2012 will and trust.
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