The secret life of Trevis Smith
Women speak out about Roughrider accused in HIV case
By Jason Warick, CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, December 03, 2005
*The names of the women in this article have been changed.
On the surface, Saskatchewan Roughriders linebacker Trevis Smith is an excellent role model. He is unfailingly polite, reads the Bible, volunteers for numerous charities and always signs autographs for children.
Smith’s teammates, coaches and friends in Saskatchewan and in his birthplace of Montgomery, Ala., all speak highly of the married father of two.
"He’s an over-achiever. I love the guy. Everybody loved Trevis," Smith's high school football coach Spence McCracken said when reached in Montgomery.
"The only thing I can say is I love him as a brother and as a friend," fellow Roughriders linebacker Jackie Mitchell said, echoing the sentiment of several other teammates.
But there’s another side of Trevis Smith. Behind the scenes, the 29-year-old has maintained long-term relationships with numerous women, often simultaneously.
Smith, who is HIV-positive according to RCMP, now stands accused of endangering the lives of some of those women. He faces two counts of aggravated sexual assault, which each carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. It’s alleged he knew he was infected, but had unprotected sex without telling women in Regina and Vancouver.
He’s out on bail and is living in Regina. He’s under an 11 p.m. curfew but his movements are not being monitored.
His Vancouver trial is scheduled to begin next May. His lawyer will appear in Regina court next week to set a date for that charge.
The case has garnered attention across North America, and raised questions about the delicate balance between an individual’s right to privacy and the public’s right to know.
The Roughriders were warned about Smith potentially spreading HIV in May, 2004. Regina police have known of the allegations for at least a year.
Smith politely declined requests for an interview. "In all reality, I’ll live my life. Those who know me, know me," he said.
Several women consented to a series of extensive interviews about their relationships with Smith. One became Smith’s girlfriend shortly after he arrived in Saskatchewan in 1999. Another is the Regina woman he lived with during football season for three years. A third is a Regina woman who discovered she is HIV-positive after breaking off her relationship with Smith. And there’s a Vancouver-area woman who dated him for four years until this May.
Smith currently lives with his wife and their two young daughters in Regina.
"He’s a nice guy on the surface - I never knew he was married," the Vancouver woman said. "He'd call me five times a day - how could he have had time for all these others?"
In the past 12 months, Smith has travelled to Mexico, Aruba, Las Vegas, Banff, Vancouver, and other locations with various women, they say.
"I had no idea. I don’t know what the truth is with that guy," said the HIV-positive Regina woman.
"He’s put a lot of people through hell. I don’t know when I’m going to die, but I know what I’m probably going to die of.
"How hard is it to put on a condom and be honest with people?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trevis Smith was in Las Vegas this past May with his longtime girlfriend Amanda* when he asked to borrow her cellphone.
Amanda, a Vancouver-area woman, thought nothing of it at the time. It was her birthday, and she was on yet another vacation with the man she loved.
The linebacker had told Amanda many times during their three-year relationship that he loved her, and would occasionally bring up the subject of marriage.
"If I ever told him I was feeling sad, he’d hop on a flight (from Regina) and be with me," Amanda said by telephone in a series of exclusive interviews. Like other women in this article, she agreed to speak on condition her real name was not used.
"When he’d come out to see me, my mom and I would cook for him - stew, meat pies, spicy kabobs. We’d spend the whole day cooking, buying balloons, baking a cake. I went all out for this man."
When she got home to Vancouver from Vegas in late May, Amanda noticed a strange Saskatchewan phone number and a text message addressed to a woman, sent at the same time Trevis had borrowed her phone.
She called the number. The Regina woman on the other end of the line told Amanda she was also involved with Smith. The woman, who declined an interview request, also told Amanda that Smith was HIV-positive.
Amanda rushed to a doctor for a blood test. They’d been having sex regularly since 2002.
Early in the relationship, she asked Smith to wear a condom during sex and he did. After about a year, Amanda said he convinced her no condoms were necessary.
"I asked him to (wear a condom). He told me ‘No, no, no, no - there’s no one else. I’d never do anything to hurt you,’" she said, estimating they had sex more than 30 times without a condom.
A few sleepless nights later, in late May of this year, she was relieved to hear the test found no evidence of HIV.
"I am so lucky. By the grace of God, I’m OK. It’s a miracle," she said.
When Amanda confronted Smith in a phone call that day, he denied having HIV. She didn’t believe him and broke off the relationship. Amanda spoke to police a few days later and gave a formal statement in early September.
A week before Smith’s arrest in October 2005, he called Amanda.
"He pleaded with me, said he’d changed and I needed to forgive him," she said.
Later in the same conversation, Smith admitted to her he was HIV-positive, she said.
He called again a few days later to ask if she and her parents wanted tickets to an upcoming CFL game, and she declined.
The morning of his arrest, he sent her a text message on her cellphone, saying he wanted her to call. She didn’t.
Smith was flown to Surrey, B.C., on Oct 27, to appear in court charged with aggravated sexual assault.
Canada’s Criminal Code allows for a charge of aggravated sexual assault if the complainant doesn’t know what is being consented to, and if the complainant’s life is endangered by the accused.
RCMP in B.C. also issued a warning that Smith is HIV positive. They advised anyone concerned about exposure should seek medical attention.
"You are also asked to contact police in relation to this investigation," stated the news release.
The next day, a Regina woman filed a complaint. A second charge of aggravated sexual assault was laid last month against Smith, this time in Regina.
Amanda’s description of her relationship with Smith is similar to that of the other women interviewed. They all fell in love with him, and Smith told them he felt the same way. At some point, the women said they agreed to let Smith stop wearing a condom during sex.
The relationships all ended with the realization that Smith was married or was dating other women.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pam* began dating Smith in 2002 after a chance meeting at a Regina gas station.
"He almost hit me with his car. We laughed and he asked me for my number," Pam said in an interview at her Regina duplex.
"He’d call me four or five times a day. We’d watch movies and hang out. He always made me laugh."
In early 2003, they discussed their relationship. Both promised they were monogamous and had no sexually-transmitted diseases. They agreed that no condom was necessary anymore and began to have unprotected sex.
"He said he loved me," Pam said.
In March of 2003, the normally healthy woman developed a severe flu-like illness. It hurt to bathe or lay too long in bed. She was extremely nauseous and her gums bled.
Pam’s temperature spiked at over 42 C for several days.
In hindsight, Pam believes this was the "sero-conversion" illness that can come within a few weeks of contracting HIV.
They broke up in October 2003 after she called Smith’s house and his wife answered. Pam began asking around, and says she soon found there were other women besides her and Smith’s wife in the picture.
"I found out he was sleeping with numerous women, so I went to get tested for STDs (sexually transmitted diseases)," she said.
She got her results Nov 5, 2003 - she was infected with HIV.
When her results came back positive, she notified the other six relationships she’d had over the past four years. None tested positive for HIV, she said.
She also called Smith at this time.
"That was the last time we spoke," she said. "He tried to call but I blocked it and then changed my number."
She called Regina police to file a complaint against Smith. No charges have been laid in her case.
Women speak out about Roughrider accused in HIV case
By Jason Warick, CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, December 03, 2005
*The names of the women in this article have been changed.
On the surface, Saskatchewan Roughriders linebacker Trevis Smith is an excellent role model. He is unfailingly polite, reads the Bible, volunteers for numerous charities and always signs autographs for children.
Smith’s teammates, coaches and friends in Saskatchewan and in his birthplace of Montgomery, Ala., all speak highly of the married father of two.
"He’s an over-achiever. I love the guy. Everybody loved Trevis," Smith's high school football coach Spence McCracken said when reached in Montgomery.
"The only thing I can say is I love him as a brother and as a friend," fellow Roughriders linebacker Jackie Mitchell said, echoing the sentiment of several other teammates.
But there’s another side of Trevis Smith. Behind the scenes, the 29-year-old has maintained long-term relationships with numerous women, often simultaneously.
Smith, who is HIV-positive according to RCMP, now stands accused of endangering the lives of some of those women. He faces two counts of aggravated sexual assault, which each carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. It’s alleged he knew he was infected, but had unprotected sex without telling women in Regina and Vancouver.
He’s out on bail and is living in Regina. He’s under an 11 p.m. curfew but his movements are not being monitored.
His Vancouver trial is scheduled to begin next May. His lawyer will appear in Regina court next week to set a date for that charge.
The case has garnered attention across North America, and raised questions about the delicate balance between an individual’s right to privacy and the public’s right to know.
The Roughriders were warned about Smith potentially spreading HIV in May, 2004. Regina police have known of the allegations for at least a year.
Smith politely declined requests for an interview. "In all reality, I’ll live my life. Those who know me, know me," he said.
Several women consented to a series of extensive interviews about their relationships with Smith. One became Smith’s girlfriend shortly after he arrived in Saskatchewan in 1999. Another is the Regina woman he lived with during football season for three years. A third is a Regina woman who discovered she is HIV-positive after breaking off her relationship with Smith. And there’s a Vancouver-area woman who dated him for four years until this May.
Smith currently lives with his wife and their two young daughters in Regina.
"He’s a nice guy on the surface - I never knew he was married," the Vancouver woman said. "He'd call me five times a day - how could he have had time for all these others?"
In the past 12 months, Smith has travelled to Mexico, Aruba, Las Vegas, Banff, Vancouver, and other locations with various women, they say.
"I had no idea. I don’t know what the truth is with that guy," said the HIV-positive Regina woman.
"He’s put a lot of people through hell. I don’t know when I’m going to die, but I know what I’m probably going to die of.
"How hard is it to put on a condom and be honest with people?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trevis Smith was in Las Vegas this past May with his longtime girlfriend Amanda* when he asked to borrow her cellphone.
Amanda, a Vancouver-area woman, thought nothing of it at the time. It was her birthday, and she was on yet another vacation with the man she loved.
The linebacker had told Amanda many times during their three-year relationship that he loved her, and would occasionally bring up the subject of marriage.
"If I ever told him I was feeling sad, he’d hop on a flight (from Regina) and be with me," Amanda said by telephone in a series of exclusive interviews. Like other women in this article, she agreed to speak on condition her real name was not used.
"When he’d come out to see me, my mom and I would cook for him - stew, meat pies, spicy kabobs. We’d spend the whole day cooking, buying balloons, baking a cake. I went all out for this man."
When she got home to Vancouver from Vegas in late May, Amanda noticed a strange Saskatchewan phone number and a text message addressed to a woman, sent at the same time Trevis had borrowed her phone.
She called the number. The Regina woman on the other end of the line told Amanda she was also involved with Smith. The woman, who declined an interview request, also told Amanda that Smith was HIV-positive.
Amanda rushed to a doctor for a blood test. They’d been having sex regularly since 2002.
Early in the relationship, she asked Smith to wear a condom during sex and he did. After about a year, Amanda said he convinced her no condoms were necessary.
"I asked him to (wear a condom). He told me ‘No, no, no, no - there’s no one else. I’d never do anything to hurt you,’" she said, estimating they had sex more than 30 times without a condom.
A few sleepless nights later, in late May of this year, she was relieved to hear the test found no evidence of HIV.
"I am so lucky. By the grace of God, I’m OK. It’s a miracle," she said.
When Amanda confronted Smith in a phone call that day, he denied having HIV. She didn’t believe him and broke off the relationship. Amanda spoke to police a few days later and gave a formal statement in early September.
A week before Smith’s arrest in October 2005, he called Amanda.
"He pleaded with me, said he’d changed and I needed to forgive him," she said.
Later in the same conversation, Smith admitted to her he was HIV-positive, she said.
He called again a few days later to ask if she and her parents wanted tickets to an upcoming CFL game, and she declined.
The morning of his arrest, he sent her a text message on her cellphone, saying he wanted her to call. She didn’t.
Smith was flown to Surrey, B.C., on Oct 27, to appear in court charged with aggravated sexual assault.
Canada’s Criminal Code allows for a charge of aggravated sexual assault if the complainant doesn’t know what is being consented to, and if the complainant’s life is endangered by the accused.
RCMP in B.C. also issued a warning that Smith is HIV positive. They advised anyone concerned about exposure should seek medical attention.
"You are also asked to contact police in relation to this investigation," stated the news release.
The next day, a Regina woman filed a complaint. A second charge of aggravated sexual assault was laid last month against Smith, this time in Regina.
Amanda’s description of her relationship with Smith is similar to that of the other women interviewed. They all fell in love with him, and Smith told them he felt the same way. At some point, the women said they agreed to let Smith stop wearing a condom during sex.
The relationships all ended with the realization that Smith was married or was dating other women.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pam* began dating Smith in 2002 after a chance meeting at a Regina gas station.
"He almost hit me with his car. We laughed and he asked me for my number," Pam said in an interview at her Regina duplex.
"He’d call me four or five times a day. We’d watch movies and hang out. He always made me laugh."
In early 2003, they discussed their relationship. Both promised they were monogamous and had no sexually-transmitted diseases. They agreed that no condom was necessary anymore and began to have unprotected sex.
"He said he loved me," Pam said.
In March of 2003, the normally healthy woman developed a severe flu-like illness. It hurt to bathe or lay too long in bed. She was extremely nauseous and her gums bled.
Pam’s temperature spiked at over 42 C for several days.
In hindsight, Pam believes this was the "sero-conversion" illness that can come within a few weeks of contracting HIV.
They broke up in October 2003 after she called Smith’s house and his wife answered. Pam began asking around, and says she soon found there were other women besides her and Smith’s wife in the picture.
"I found out he was sleeping with numerous women, so I went to get tested for STDs (sexually transmitted diseases)," she said.
She got her results Nov 5, 2003 - she was infected with HIV.
When her results came back positive, she notified the other six relationships she’d had over the past four years. None tested positive for HIV, she said.
She also called Smith at this time.
"That was the last time we spoke," she said. "He tried to call but I blocked it and then changed my number."
She called Regina police to file a complaint against Smith. No charges have been laid in her case.
