Woman says football star told her reporting rape would 'ruin my career'

Woman says football star told her reporting rape would 'ruin my career'

(Chantelle McCall, Pool)


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LOGAN — A soft-spoken woman described Thursday how she was leaving the campus bookstore as a freshman at Utah State University carrying a fresh set of class materials when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

It was January 2015, the woman said, and Torrey Green stopped her and introduced himself. A few days later, he messaged her and asked to get together, but wouldn't agree to come to her apartment where she hoped she could "control the situation" because her roommates were there.

At that, the woman identified in court documents as V.G. testified that she stopped messaging Green, but about an hour later Green contacted her again and said he was on his way with a friend to pick her up.

She testified she was nervous, but a friend told her there was likely nothing to worry about. She left her on-campus apartment with Green, thinking Green and his friend were simply taking her for a drive to get to know each other.

Instead, an emotional V.G. testified she ended up at Green's apartment, where Green carried her back to his bedroom and raped her even as she repeatedly told the former USU linebacker "no."

"I told him so many times, I honestly have no idea how he could say he didn't know," the woman said, estimating she told him 100 times.

Afterward, the woman said Green asked her, "You're not the kind of girl who would report a rape, are you? Because that would ruin my career."

Green is charged with rape and object rape, both first-degree felonies, and forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony, of the woman. Those charges make up just one of seven cases against the former college football standout, who is charged with raping six women, including V.G., and sexually assaulting another during his time at USU.

V.G. reported the alleged assault to school officials and police two days later. Her testimony Thursday included a recording of a "pretext phone call" police had her make to Green, where she said she wanted to know whether he had been thinking their encounter was a one-time thing, or if he had been interested in a relationship in the future.

"Why did you keep going then when I said no?" she asks Green in the recording.

Green, who does not know the call is recorded, protests, saying he doesn't think she ever said no.

"If I hear no, I don't even play with that," Green told her.

V.G. only returned to two classes after the assault, she testified. Overwhelmed and emotionally wracked, she left USU.

"I loved it so much there," she said, weeping.

Green is in the middle of a three-day preliminary hearing, where prosecutors are presenting evidence, including testimony from the seven women.

On Wednesday, three alleged victims gave testimony describing how they met Green in 2013 and 2014, and how he raped or sexually assaulted them in his student apartment.

V.G. and another woman, identified by the initials A.P., took the witness stand Thursday to testify Green raped them within days of meeting them.

According to A.P., Green matched with her on the dating app Tinder in June 2015, and within a few days — perhaps even 24 hours — Green had asked to meet with her.

It was 2 a.m. and A.P. said she was tired, telling Green she didn't want to come to his apartment. But in their conversations, she and Green had realized she was living in an apartment complex where he'd lived in the past, and Green told her he was on his way over, the woman testified.

Because Green was already on his way, she testified she had to let him in, planning to just talk for a while and send him on his way.

"He seemed pleasant, decent, friendly," as they chatted on the couch, A.P. said. But when she told him she was tired and asked him to leave, Green said no.

They continued talking, she said, until Green started to kiss her. She testified she kissed him back, thinking it was something she would just have to deal with until she could convince him to go home.

The kissing continued, and when Green became more aggressive and began grabbing her body and clothes, pushing her back toward her bedroom, she told him to stop and that she didn't want to have sex.

On her bedroom floor, A.P. said Green took off her clothes, "ignored what I was saying and continued."

"He told me that I did want to have sex with him, that he was really good and I would like it," A.P. testified. When he raped her, she said, "At that point I just gave up, he was ignoring everything I was saying."

After, A.P. said Green got into her bed, told her to join him, and took a picture of the two of them together. She smiled, she said, because he told her to.

When Green fell asleep, the woman said she got up and locked herself in the bathroom, refusing to come out when he got up in the morning and remaining there until he left.

Fearing she lacked evidence to press charges, she didn't immediately go to police, but continued texting Green for a few days hoping he would offer an apology or incriminate himself, she testified.

"It just became clear I wasn't going to get anything out of him, he didn't think he had done anything wrong," she testified, explaining she told Green not to contact her again and blocked his number.

Prosecutors also admitted evidence Thursday of a text message conversation between Green and a female friend in August 2016, after news reports surfaced revealing several women were accusing him of sexual assault. Green told the woman, who was not replying to him, he was "at the lowest point in my life" before going on a lengthy and profanity-laced tirade imploring the woman not to abandon him.

"They said I raped them yes I did it it's my fault i'm the one who did it," the text said in part.

Green's attorney, Skye Lazaro, said the text contains zero punctuation, leaving it open to be interpreted in a number of different ways.

After the preliminary hearing ends Friday, a subsequent hearing will be scheduled as 1st District Judge Brian Cannell considers whether there is probable cause to order Green to stand trial in any or all of the cases.

In total, Green is charged with six counts of rape, a first-degree felony; aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony; two counts of object rape, a first-degree felony; and two counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.

Green, who is from Rubidoux, California, graduated from USU in early 2016 and was signed as a rookie linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons. He was dropped by the team in August after the sexual assault allegations began to surface, and is currently being held without bail in the Cache County Jail.

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