CLAYTON, Mo. — An acquaintance of a former St. Louis County chief of staff was charged in connection with the dissemination of a sex tape involving the man and an unidentified woman last year.
Calvin Harris was St. Louis County Executive Sam Page’s chief of staff. The boyfriend of the mother of Harris' child was charged in connection to the incident, allegedly sharing the tape with Page’s political enemy in 2022.
Rodney Leger, 51, of Glen Ellyn, Ill. was charged with three counts of nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images, according to court documents.
Leger, “while acting with another, intentionally disseminated an image with the intent to harass, threaten, or coerce Harris or (the woman in the video),” and he “obtained the image under circumstances in which a reasonable person would know or understand the image was to remain private, and knew or should have known that Harris or (the woman in the video) did not consent to distribution,” according to the documents filed May 24.
The grand jury indictment remained under seal until this week, when Leger turned himself in to authorities, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation, who also confirm the relationship between Leger and the mother of Harris’s child.
Those sources also confirm the investigation took close to a year because it was largely based on search warrants served on social media companies to trace how the images were disseminated. It then took months for those companies to respond with the information. Once the information came back to authorities, the volume of records took months to review for evidence, according to sources.
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell issued an emailed statement with the subject line "First charges unsealed in Calvin Harris incident." It read, in part:
"This case was charged directly by the St. Louis County Grand Jury... and grand jury proceedings are not public. Also, this charge was issued as part of an ongoing investigation. For these reasons, we can offer no further comment at this time."
Court documents alleged Leger committed the crimes on three separate occasions, including June 17, 22 and 24 in 2022.
Harris resigned June 29, 2022, after working for Page for six months at the time of the scandal.
The video was first sent to Shamed Dogan, a Republican state representative and candidate for St. Louis County Executive.
The video was emailed from an email address titled stlconcernedcitizen@proton.me with the subject line of “Tax Dollars GROSSLY Misused at County Executive Office.”
The text of the email accused Page of mismanaging his office and neglecting his duties.
Dogan then shared the video with County Councilman Mark Harder, another one of Page’s political enemies.
Harder reported the video to Clayton police after Dogan sent it to him, stating he had concerns that the woman in the video could be the victim of a crime. Clayton police then referred the matter to the Missouri Highway Patrol.
In Missouri, it is illegal to take or distribute photographs or videos of someone involved in a sex act without their consent -- however, that person must be nude, or partially nude. The woman in the video in this case was fully clothed.
The woman in the video is represented by attorney Grant Boyd. He told 5 On Your Side she did not know she was being recorded, did not consent to the recording, and did not consent to the distribution of the video.
Boyd sent a statement to 5 On Your Side Tuesday reacting to the news of Leger's charges.
"We are glad that charges have been issued against at least one person involved in this criminal conduct. We know there is more to this story and more people that share responsibility for this matter. We are disappointed that because of a poorly written law, Calvin Harris may not be prosecuted for what he did. We will continue to tirelessly and aggressively pursue justice through available channels."
Harris' attorney, Travis Noble, told 5 On Your Side in 2022 his client is “extremely embarrassed,” but added "no crime was committed."
Noble said the victim knew she was being recorded, his client didn’t disseminate the video and doesn’t know how it got into the hands of the Republican lawmaker.
On Tuesday, Noble told 5 On Your Side: "As we said all along Cal Harris had nothing to do with the dissemination of the video. We’re pleased to hear police were able to identify and charge a person who unlawfully disseminated a private video."
He also stood by his earlier statements regarding the woman in the video.
"I find it unfathomable that she would claim that she didn’t know she was being recorded," Noble said.
Noble said the incident did not take place on the county dime. He said his client gave the Highway Patrol the personal cellphone he used to make the recording.
A request for comment from Page's office was not immediately returned.
