New evidence surfaces in Torrey Green hearing, seven women testify

Text messages in which former Utah State University football player Torrey Green may have admitted to allegations of sexual assault surfaced in an evidentiary hearing this week.

Cache County prosecutors Barbara Lachmar and Spencer Walsh displayed their evidence to move forward with charges of rape and sexual assault in hearings held Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The messages were part of a conversation between Green and a friend, identified in his phone as Princess Ali, who questioned Green about accusations that surfaced after a Salt Lake Tribune article in which several women accused Green of sexually assaulting them.

At first, the text messages showed Green denied the allegations several times.

But in one message, Green said, “they said I raped them yes I did it’s my fault I’m the one who did it.”

The message did not specify which allegations Green was referring to, and Walsh said he could not comment on that particular piece of evidence.

In addition to text messages, prosecutors presented evidence including the testimonies of seven women who said Green sexually assaulted or raped them.  The testimonies began with a woman referred to in court documents as M.H.

M.H. met Green on the dating app Tinder. Worried about her safety, M.H. requested she and Green first meet in a public place — the Merrill-Cazier Library at Utah State University. After getting to know him, M.H. decided to join Green at his apartment for dinner.

At first, M.H. said she thought Green was “really cute and tall and charming, and he seemed nice.”

However, M.H.’s attraction quickly turned to fear.

The two went to Green’s room to watch a movie when Green offered her a massage, which she consented to.

However, Green quickly began attempting to take her clothes off, which M.H. said she did not consent to.

“I was saying ‘stop’ and ‘don’t’ and I was pushing him away,” M.H. testified on Wednesday.

She struggled with Green but he was eventually able to remove her clothe and rape her.

“See, that was great, and you didn’t want to,” she said Green told her after.

Soon after, M.H. said she told her friend about the occurrence. He encouraged her to tell the police but she was too scared at the time.

However, when she read reports in The Salt Lake Tribune regarding four other victims, she decided to report to the North Park Police Department.

C.D.

C.D. met Torrey Green outside the Aggie Marketplace, a dining hall located in USU’s Taggart Student Center.

She said Green asked for her number and the two text-messaged for a few days before Green invited her over for dinner at his North Logan apartment.

However, C.D. said the two never actually had dinner.

Instead, they watched a movie together when Green began “aggressively” kissing her and trying to take her clothing off, C.D. testified.

Eventually Green pinned her to a wall and assaulted her, she said.

“I fought like hell even though I wanted to quit and let go,” she said.

For fear of “ruining (Green’s) life,” C.D. said she did not report to the police. However, her mother read media accounts of other women who said they had been raped by Green and encouraged C.D to reach out to Salt Lake Tribune reporter Alex Stuckey. After an interview with Stuckey, C.D. reported to the North Park Police Department, who then turned the charges over to the Cache County Attorney’s Office.

L.P.

When L.P. met former USU football player Torrey Green, she said she thought he was “nice, polite and a family guy.”

That opinion changed, she said, when she went to Green’s apartment to watch a movie.

Minutes into the movie, she said, Green began to kiss and cuddle her.

While L.P. said she first “jokingly” told Green to get off of her, she quickly went from joking to terrified.

“It was an out-of-body experience,” she said.

As she tried to get up and leave, Green backed her into his bathroom and sexually assaulted her, she said.

Thinking back to an earlier conversation she had with Green in which he told her how much he loved his mother and family, L.P. said she asked Green “what his mother would think of this,” a question he ignored.

She continued to protest Green’s advances and he eventually agreed to take her home.

“I was terrified to tell the police,” she said.

However, after she read media articles relating to earlier allegations against Green, she came forward to the North Park Police Department.

“I made a promise to myself that if he ever was caught that I would come forward also,” she said. “To make sure women know they’re not alone.”

V.G.

After meeting Green in the TSC at USU, V.G. said she knew she didn’t want to end up at his apartment, which is why she suggested they meet in a public place after the two began text messaging.

However, she said Green refused to meet in a public place. Later the same day, he called her and said he was with a friend and the two were on their way to pick her up at her dorm.

Despite her misgivings, court documents say V.G. agreed to get in the car with Green and his friend.

They drove around for a period of time, and Green eventually took she and his friend back to her apartment.

When she first arrived at Green’s apartment, the two were talking in the living room with Green’s roommate. After the roommate left, however, V.G. said Green’s demeanor changed.

“He started kissing me and trying to take off my shirt — he was moving really fast,” she said. “I told him ‘no’ multiple times.”

Ignoring her protests, Green raped her, she said.

“I told him ‘no’ and he said ‘just let me finish,’” she told the court Thursday.

As she left Green’s apartment, he asked her not to tell anyone about the events.

“He said, ‘You’re not the kind of girl that would report a rape, right? Because that would ruin my career,” she testified.

However, V.G. went to the Cache Valley Specialty Hospital for a Sexual Assault Nurse Examination, commonly known as a rape kit, and reported to the Logan City Police Department.

Two years after taking the SANE examination, the results have yet to be made available.

Logan City Police Detective Kendall Olsen said it was common practice at the time not to send SANE kits in until court proceedings.

C.H.

When C.H. matched with Green on the dating app Tinder, she said she requested the two meet in a public place, so they met at the Aggie Creamery.

While the two talked at the creamery, C.H. testified she felt like she got to know Green well enough to go to his apartment and watch a movie.

As the two were watching a scary movie, Green began to kiss her, she said.

While she was comfortable with kissing, Green began touching her breasts, which C.H. said she was not comfortable with.

After Green repeatedly tried to grope her breasts and take her pants off, she told him “I don’t want this, please stop,’” she testified.

Green eventually told her she “liked it” and carried her to his room, she told the court.

Once he brought her to his room, he raped her, she said.

“I began to sob because I was in a lot of pain,” she said. “I was finally able to push him off of me.”

C.H. said after the rape, Green asked her not to report the incident because it could ruin his career. For fear of what Green would do to her, she did not report the incident until she read articles about other alleged victims in The Salt Lake Tribune.

“I wanted to make the cases stronger,” she said.

A.P.

After A.P. repeatedly told Green not to come to her apartment, he did not respect her wishes.

This was the first example of Green’s lack of respect for her, she testified.

The two met on Tinder in June 2015, and “sometime between one and two days after,” Green insisted on hanging out with A.P. at her apartment.

After Green showed up at her apartment, she said the two conversed, but she told him that’s all she wanted to do.

“He seemed pleasant, decent, friendly,” she testified.

Green soon began kissing her and pulling her toward her room.

“I figured that it was just kissing, that I would just have to put up with it,” she told the court.

However, she said Green soon became “more aggressive” and she knew he wanted “more than just kissing.”

Despite her verbal pleas asking him to stop, she said Green held her down and raped her.

“He told me that I did want to have sex with him and that he was really good and that I would like it,” she said.

Fearing for her safety, A.P. locked herself in her bathroom until Green eventually left.

At the time, A.P. decided not to report because she felt she had no evidence to prove what happened.

She also testified that after speaking with USU Sexual Assault and Anti-Violence Information office coordinator Jenny Erazo, she decided to report the incident.

When she did report, however, she felt no one believed her.

“When I spoke to the detective, it almost seemed like he was attacking me,” she told the Utah Statesman in a November interview.

R.E.

When R.E. met Green at a party, she gave him her phone number.

Weeks after their first encounter, she went to one of Green’s parties. When she first arrived, she saw Green with another woman, which put her worries at ease. However, circumstances soon changed.

“He tried to kiss me and I told him I wasn’t that type of girl,” she told the court Friday.

After having what she referred to as “a lot to drink,” Green lured her into a room and began kissing her, which she consented to.

Things escalated, however, and she testified Green began to rape her.

“I remember him trying to take my pants off and I just said that’s not why I was there,” she testified. “After that the only thing I can remember is being in pain.”

The next day, R.E. had a SANE kit done and reported the incident the Logan City Police Department.

Although four women reported to police before media attention, Green was not charged until their stories were published in The Salt Lake Tribune.

Green’s attorney, Skye Lazaro, requested another hearing to discuss her closing arguments. This hearing will be held on April 19 at 9:00 a.m.

Walsh said he appreciates the women’s “courage in coming to court and telling their story to the judge.”

Lazaro declined to comment.

—alisonberg28@gmail.com

@alison__berg

Photo by Tim Carpenter