What Drives Aaron Smith-Levin’s Continuing Abuse of Women?

Not long after Aaron Smith-Levin joined the Church of Scientology religious order in 2002, his hostile and threatening behavior toward co-workers became problematic.

As he himself said, “I had a reputation for being a hothead and getting into physical altercations.” That is to put it mildly.

“He had no fuse whatsoever…He could be quite brutal in terms of handling of staff,” said a former superior. Over a two-year period, Smith-Levin admitted, “I lost my temper and engaged in disputes on many occasions…at least 100 instances.”

Many of those instances involved women.

His former colleagues remember the occasion of an office meeting where Smith-Levin stormed in to confront a black female executive in her 60s and accused her of some imagined slight.

“He was going to hit her in the face,” said one staffer who described Smith-Levin lunging toward the woman, only to be held back by other staff members.

Finally, Smith-Levin—after many attempts to get him to reform—was shown the door and dismissed from Church staff.

Abuse and intimidation at home

Later, Smith-Levin and his wife moved in with his in-laws. They, in turn, described Smith-Levin’s offensive behavior in their home and that he subsequently abused his wife and three daughters.

His father-in-law observed that his daughter Heather had changed after marrying Smith-Levin. “I know their life is not an enjoyable situation for her. Because she puts up with that threat. Her husband is very forceful—I’ve seen him put his face two inches from her face and said, ‘So, what the f--k are you going to do about it?’ In other words, he gives her no choice.”

His sister-in-law, Erika, witnessed Smith-Levin’s violent outbursts. “I’ve seen Aaron snap at Heather. He just kind of would explode hostilely towards her. I’ve seen Aaron snap at his kids,” said Erika. “I think Heather is frightened of Aaron. Before she met him she was a very outgoing person…And after she married Aaron, that seemed to change…And it seemed like she had this fear about her.”

His mother-in-law, Anne, saw how Smith-Levin could turn into a monster. “I’ve seen instances when he would snap. He picked the older daughter up and flipped her over…and spanked, spanked her just like—with as much force as he could…So, at that point I said to Heather, ‘Aaron cannot act like this in my home. I don’t want him acting like this in my home anymore. This is not acceptable to me.’”

No one in Smith-Levin’s vicinity was safe—a lesson one young mother discovered after moving into his neighborhood.

Stephanie (not her real name) enjoyed evening jogs after work, but on one night she noticed Smith-Levin standing on a corner, silently watching her run by. “That’s weird,” she thought to herself. Two nights later it happened again. And then again. Almost any time she went jogging, he would be there somewhere along her route, watching.

Smith-Levin sometimes showed up when Stephanie was at the park with her two young children. “It became so obvious that he was just staring at me as I had my two young children in the stroller, by myself, and it got really intimidating. You know, he’s a large man. He’s much bigger than I am. And I became very aware that I was vulnerable in that situation.”

Then, without warning, the intimidation intensified.

“One night while I was jogging…all of a sudden on an empty road comes an SUV,” Stephanie said. Horrified, she saw the SUV accelerate until it was hurtling down her side of the road—on the wrong side of the road—doing close to twice the speed limit.

“At the very last moment, [it veered and headed] straight for me. So I dove onto the ground [and] into my neighbor’s bushes.” The SUV swerved away and turned the corner. Through the open window, she saw Smith-Levin giving her the finger, yelling “F--k you!” as he drove off.

“It was absolutely Aaron Smith-Levin. I immediately called my husband as I was terrified. He’d instructed me right away to call the police, which I did as I felt like my safety was completely threatened,” said Stephanie.

In the end, to protect their family, Stephanie and her husband felt they had no choice but to move away to another community.

Smith-Levin’s path leads to physical assault, then outright depravity

In May 2023, a woman called into authorities to report that Smith-Levin beat her up and “tried to kill her” after a fight.

Smith-Levin later discussed the incident in a podcast interview, describing how it started with an altercation he had with the woman in a Los Angeles hotel room—part of which she filmed on her phone and posted online.

Smith-Levin next described how he needed “to get rid of her” and how out on the street the quarrel resumed and turned physical. The camera footage shows what Smith-Levin did to end it—slamming the small woman against a stone wall. “I see her head hit one of the corners of this building…Oh f--k. That actually looked pretty bad,” he said. “And my second thought was, this is my chance to get away.” He told how he hurried off, leaving her lying crumpled on the sidewalk, her head bloody.

But Smith-Levin’s actions in this incident merely pointed to a deeper well of continuing corruption.

In late 2024, Smith-Levin was exposed in a video post by former hate group cohort Mike Rinder for bragging about a “coke-fueled sex worker binge to Colombia,” a story Smith-Levin himself proudly repeated, as well as numerous other transgressions.

That exposé was soon followed by another on January 1, 2025, revealed by another woman—Smith-Levin’s most recent mistress and, ironically, fellow anti-Scientologist complicit in his hate campaign against Scientology. Yet here she was, announcing on her YouTube channel that she just found out that Smith-Levin had cheated on her for the third time. She said she was warned by many friends but didn’t listen.

“I met his kids. We spent time together, and even his kids warned my kids,” she said. “They said that ‘we hope that he treats your mom better than he treats our mom.’ And all the while, Smith-Levin was married.

“This is about somebody who is a liar and a cheater and a betrayer,” the woman posted two days later. “If somebody is going to lie and cheat and steal in their relationship(s), then they’re going to do it everywhere else. They’re going to do it on the internet, they’re going to do it to friends. They’re going to do it everywhere.”

Aaron Smith-Levin does just that—he lies, cheats, and betrays without restraint.

As a result, his transgressions against women are widely dissected on social media, with many reacting in dismay or disgust.

Their sentiments are perhaps best captured by this comment from one poster: “This man has demonstrated violent anger and control issues, especially with women, and these types only get worse. He needs to be stopped.”