By Paula Ann Solis
Staff Writer
A 2010 Baylor alumna testified Wednesday that while she was a student, former Baylor football player Tevin Sherard Elliott, 22, sexually assaulted her.
The testimony was part of Elliott’s sexual assault case being tried at Waco’s 54th State District Court. Elliott was signed from Mount Pleasant High School in 2009 when he joined the team as a redshirt.
The witness said she was assaulted in 2009 but kept the event concealed for three years until she heard Elliott was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting another Baylor student in 2012 after an apartment party.
That party was April 15, 2012, at the Aspen Heights Apartments and the victim was taken to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center after the assault. Sgt. Patrick Swanton said the Waco Police Department obtained a warrant and arrested then-Baylor student Elliott at his apartment near campus April 30.
After the arrest, Elliott was suspended from Baylor’s football program and then suspended by the university on the accusation of violating school and team policies.
Elliott was indicted on three counts of sexual assault Aug. 27 by a McLennan County grand jury. It was then that Jason P. Darling, Elliott’s attorney, said one of the charges stemmed from a November 2009 incident.
The victim from 2009 said she decided to tell Waco authorities about the incident in 2012 after discovering Elliott was connected to other sexual assaults. She said she thought for three years she was the only victim but after realizing she may have been the first and could have prevented future incident by speaking out the first time, she had to come forth.
When Darling asked the witness why she was claiming assault years after physical evidence and texts messages between the victim and Elliott were gone, she said it was out of obligation.
“I think that this can’t happen to anyone else,” the witness said.
The witness described the relationship she and Elliott had before her assault, describing him as a friend she met while he was still a high school recruit. She also said she had consensual sex with Elliott in the past and was hesitant to come forth with her accusation for fear of what it could do to his life.
The trial recessed after her testimony and will continue with testimony from another alleged assault victim at 9 a.m. today.
