Waffle House Chairman Sex Tapes Impounded by Court

A woman alleges her job depended on performing sex acts on Joseph Rogers Jr.

ByABC News
November 15, 2012, 10:05 AM

Nov. 15, 2012 — -- A Georgia judge has seized sexual recordings of the Waffle House chairman accused of demanding sex from his former housekeeper.

Joe Rogers Jr.'s former housekeeper in Georgia has accused him of demanding that she perform sex acts on him as part of her duties over an eight-year period.

Rogers has admitted to an affair with the woman, but denies assault claims and says he is a victim of blackmail.

"I'm willing to stand here and be the victim of my own stupidity, but I don't want to be the victim of these crimes," Rogers told ABC News' Atlanta affiliate WSB-TV outside of court on Wednesday. "I'm disappointed in a lot of people. I've let a lot of folks down."

Rogers and attorneys for both parties made their first court appearance Wednesday. The Cobb County Superior Court judge ordered that an unknown number of DVDs be impounded because he said they were recorded by the housekeeper without Rogers' knowledge and could be damaging to him if they were leaked.

Rogers' wife was in court to support her husband and though the two walked out of the courthouse hand-in-hand, some cracks showed below the surface.

"They're standing by me, though I did some stupid things," Rogers said of his family. "I was a dumb***." He trailed off, wondering if the curse word could be used on television when his wife interjected, "I second that, though."

One of the woman's attorneys rebuffed Rogers blackmail claims.

"Joe went back and forth. It's not extortion. It's a tort case," attorney Haylton Dupree told WSB-TV.

The woman, who ABC News is not identifying due to the sexual harassment allegations, filed an incident report with the Atlanta Police Department that detailed the alleged abuse.

She accused Rogers of forcing her to perform "various sexual acts on him as a condition of her employment," according to the police report filed Sept. 28, 2012.

Rogers said in a statement that over a nearly eight-year period in which he was "separated, single and re-married," he had a "series of infrequent consensual encounters" with the woman.

"That was wrong of me and I am very sorry for the pain and embarrassment I've caused my wife and family," he said. "There is no excuse for what I have done."

Rogers said that the housekeeper worked for him from 2003 until 2008 when she was let go. He said that she re-applied for her job and was re-hired as his house manager in late 2009, working in that position until she resigned in June 2012.

"On July 16, 2012, I received a letter from her attorney containing false allegations and strong threats," Rogers said. "According to her attorneys, she now wants millions of dollars from me."

Rogers claimed that he shared a "threatening blackmail letter" with his wife and hired attorneys to investigate. He said he initiated court proceedings in September 2012 and that the housekeeper and her attorneys responded with false allegations and a false police report.

"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," he wrote.

The police report chronicled years of allegedly unwanted sexual contact in graphic details.

"As part of and as a condition of [victim's] employment, and against [victim's] will, Rogers willfully, repeatedly and with specific intent to harm and oppress [victim] required [victim] to perform sexual services," the police report said.