On Friday news broke of a sexual harassment lawsuit against Criminal Minds’ director of photography. Todd Durboraw, who worked on set as the 2nd assistant cameraman, accused Greg St. Johns, who was Director of Photography at the time of the alleged incident, of touching him in sexual way “approximately two to three times a week on average.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, the plaintiff began working for the defendant in 2011 when the described encounters first started.
In response to the alleged misconduct, Durboraw is suing St. Johns as well as ABC Studios, CBS, Warner Bros. and Entertainment Partners Enterprises for alleged assault, sexual harassment, retaliation, and battery. ABC Studios, CBS, Warner Bros. and Entertainment Partners all are involved in producing the popular crime drama. The suit accuses these parties of alleged harassment and allegedly failing to investigate the plaintiff’s claims.
The suit describes the alleged sexual harassment, stating, “On at least one occasion, while Plaintiff was squatting down, Defendant St. Johns came up behind Plaintiff and touched Plaintiff’s groin and buttocks with his foot.” At other times, St. Johns would allegedly “grab and flick the Plaintiff’s nipples.”
The suit goes as far as to claim that the plaintiff was allegedly discriminated against and harassed at his workplace. This included his inability to take days off of work to see to his child’s life-threatening health condition, and being prevented from being promoted. Moreover, the plaintiff alleges that he was fired as an act of retaliation, explaining that his colleagues who did not speak out against St. Johns’ behavior were thanked with gifts and preferable assignments.
St. Johns has a history of public accusations of deviant behavior. In October 2018, Variety described an ABC Studios human resources investigation into crewmember’s allegations of sexual harassment and retaliating against the director of photography. 19 former and current staff members accused St. Johns of allegedly manifesting a “toxic environment” on set, and said that he allegedly groped male staffers on occasion.
The October 2018 allegations were followed up with an email in January 2018. In this email, which was sent to approximately 100 crewmembers, producers explained that they were contacted by additional staffers with concerns of St. Johns’ alleged behavior.
Durboraw is seeking punitive, special and general damages. As of Friday, both ABC Studios and CBS have yet to comment on his lawsuit.
The final and 15th season of Criminal Minds will debut on CBS early next year.