AUBURN — Levi Gervais said he was in a dark place two years ago — separated from his longtime girlfriend and his three children and caught up in a dangerous life of marijuana, prostitution and ultimately, murder.

Gervais said his experience as the prosecution’s key witness in the 2011 murder of Christiana Fesmire gave him a chance to start over and rebuild.

Now, as one of five candidates seeking one of the two open at-large City Council seats in Auburn, Gervais said he’s come full circle.

“I couldn’t help Christiana, but I think I can help other people now,” Gervais said.

He said he was working as a trainer at the ACS call center in the Lewiston Mall when he met Fesmire and brother and sister Buddy and Brandi Robinson.

“I’ve been told that I’m way too trusting, and I think that’s what they latched onto and took advantage of,” Gervais said. “It compounded and compounded until they got me in. And once I was into their friendship, I couldn’t pull way. I’d be threatened and what-not.”

Brandi Robinson was identified in court as Gervais’ girlfriend, although he insists he was still involved and living with another woman and was pressured into the relationship with Robinson.

“I thought I was going to be the next victim,” he said. “All I knew is what I was told, and she wanted to take me away from my family. I missed my family, I really did, and they tried to keep us apart. Every time I’d try to distance myself, I’d get threats.”

Gervais’ testimony helped convict Buddy Robinson of murder. Gervais was given immunity from prosecution for perjury, marijuana use and prostitution for testifying.

He was fired from his job at ACS after the trial. In his testimony, he talked about regularly returning to work after smoking marijuana. But Gervais said he was able to return to his life and is now engaged. She has two children from a previous relationship and she and Gervais have a daughter together.

“The police were very good to me,” he said. “They promised to protect me and that fact allowed me to go back to them full time. Honestly, I’m ecstatic now to be back together.”

He stays home with the children now, volunteering at their school.

“I’ve gone to School Committee meetings and I didn’t mind stepping up and voicing my opinions,” Gervais said. “I was nervous, but after what I’d been through, it was in perspective.”

He thinks he’d make a fine city councilor.

“At its most basic, I’m a nurturer,” he said. “I want to run for the at-large seat because I want to hear from everyone in the city. I live in New Auburn, but that doesn’t mean that’s all I want to hear from. I want to hear from everyone, in every walk of life.”

Gervais is not the only current candidate in the Twin Cities with some recent controversy.

Lewiston Ward 4 candidate Darcy Reed was fined $500 for a civil violation, underage consumption of alcohol in May 2012, when she was 19. A second charge, providing alcohol to minors, was dismissed.

“Everybody makes mistakes,” Reed said. “I’m not saying I did anything wrong, but people do make mistakes. I like to think that I am a pretty mature 20 year old. I own my own home, I’m graduating in two months and I’m starting law school. I think I’d be a pretty good City Councilor.”

staylor@sunjournal.com