During the trial, witness after witness testified about how they had been duped. Car dealer Randy Lamb lost $218,000 in the scam, and told the court that his losses nearly bankrupted him and kept his mother from retiring as planned. Greg Ross, a car salesman in San Juan Capistrano, who lost $120,000, testified that he demanded to speak with the manager of the bank servicing the Bowers estate. A few days later, Ross got a call from Bob Burrows, a loan officer with First Bank and Trust in Lakewood, California. Burrows disclosed enough details about the account to make Ross feel somewhat better. But Ross couldn't get in touch with Burrows when he had more questions, and got suspicious when Baker called him wondering why he was checking up on them. Finally, Burrows called back, but while the "Bob Burrows" Ross spoke with a few days earlier had an unmistakable African-American accent, this Burrows had a New England accent. Nichols took the stand in his own defense, portraying himself as Gomez' victim.