A former Waffle House CEO is currently entangled in sex scandal-related legal woes, and the jury in the case were shown his sex tape in the courtroom.
Joe Rogers Jr., who is no longer the restaurant chain boss but does serve as chairman of the board, took the stand to testify against his former housekeeper, Mye Brindle, according to AJC.
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Brindle and two attorneys, David Cohen and John Butters, are accused of conspiring together to secretly film her performing a sex act on Rogers Jr. without his awareness. They are on trial facing charges of “unlawful surveillance.”
The judge ordered that the prosecution was not allowed to withhold the recording from the public, and so it was played for the jurors while Rogers Jr. tearfully shook his head and averted his gaze.
Audio of the encounter was played separately for the jury, which Rogers Jr. was also forced to sit through.
The former CEO claimed that the encounter was not unusual as he and Brindle had been having them for nearly a decade.
Brindle’s defense attorneys have argued that she made the tape as evidence of ongoing sexual harassment that she alleged she suffered at the hands of Rogers Jr. while she was in his employ. Rogers Jr. and his attorneys have maintained that the encounters were consensual.
This case goes all the way back to 2012, when Brindle sued Rogers Jr. over the alleged sexual harassment, as reported by Fox News. At the time, Rogers confessed to a sexual relationship with Brindle, but asserted that she had consented to it and that he never forced her. He also accused her of extortion.
That same year, Cohen sent Rogers Jr. a letter urging him to settle Brindle’s claims quickly and cautioning that if he failed to he would likely face “media attention, criminal charges, divorce, and the destruction of families.”
“Shortly thereafter, on July 16, 2012, I received a letter from her attorney containing false allegations and strong threats,” Rogers Jr. said of Cohen’s letter in 2012. “According to her attorneys, she now wants millions of dollars from me.”
Rogers ultimately counter-sued, which resulted in the indictments that Brindle and her attorneys are on trial for currently.
In a previous statement, Rogers Jr. addressed the confessed sexual encounters he had with Brindle, saying, “That was wrong of me and I am very sorry for the pain and embarrassment I’ve caused my wife and family. There is no excuse for what I have done.”
“I am a victim of my own stupidity, but I am not going to be a victim of a crime — extortion,” he added. “As personally embarrassing as this situation is for me, I am committed to the legal and law enforcement process to expose the motives of my former housekeeper and her attorneys.”
