Dragon Age voice actor arrested on multiple charges over allegations, including revenge porn and harassment

Cullen from Dragon Age: Inquisition stares at the player amidst a snow-cloaked backdrop.
(Image credit: Bioware)

The Chenango County Sheriff’s Office has arrested Jonathan Rees, also known as Greg Ellis, on multiple charges. A report by WBNG states that Rees turned himself in at the Sheriff's office when asked, before being "processed, arraigned, and released", and will appear in court at a later date to face the charges. Rees is known for his role as Cullen Rutherford in the Dragon Age series, appearing first in Dragon Age: Origins, as well as Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition.

The charges in question pertain to an unnamed woman, cited in court documents as Jane Doe. They allege Rees of "offering a false instrument" (that is, a false document, form and so on) in the first degree, as well as "unlawful surveillance in the second degree". Other charges include making a false written statement, perjury, aggravated harassment, coercion, and "unlawful dissemination or publication of an intimate image".

Doe is said to have been in a relationship with Rees between 2016 and 2022, before breaking up with him and cutting off all contact—the documents accuse Rees of threatening Doe with "references to self-harm and exposing explicit content of Doe to a large audience". The documents also accuse Rees of sending "illicit photos" of Doe to her friends and family.

The report also states that in 2022 Rees "testified in open court and admitted to his attempt to use 'revenge porn' to extort Doe"—in response, a restraining order was put in place. The documents later state that Rees tried to intimidate a third-party witness, and threatened on social media to reveal Doe's identity as retaliation.

Rees has a history of controversy, such as this 2020 video featuring an in-character rant (as Cullen Rutherford) decrying the "intellectual glitterati" and the "#metoo" movement and asking fans to "plant their flag against cancel culture"—before responding (again, as Cullen Rutherford) to posts on social media levelled against Rees. While many of his later tweets aren't accessible anymore, Rees also publicly burnt bridges with Mark Darrah when he left Bioware that same year, calling him "a disloyal, duplicitous corporate fake".

Despite this attempt to—and I'm quoting that video, here—"have me, and my voice actor Greg Ellis tossed into the cancel culture wastelands", Rees has starred in videogame roles as recently as 2023, voicing a handful of roles in Hogwarts Legacy, and has also made appearances on television and animation.

TOPICS
Harvey Randall
Staff Writer

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.

Read more
Dragon Age Dreadwolf antogonist, Solas the elf, with a huge wolf walking next to him through smoke
Dragon Age voice actor says his favourite way to play Inquisition is as a woman who romances himself, which is apparently 'the best'
Videogame Voice actor Wes Johnson posed next to a studio microphone.
Beloved Bethesda RPG voice actor Wes Johnson is in critical condition after being found 'unconscious and barely alive,' and his family is asking for help from fans
Videogame Voice actor Wes Johnson posed next to a studio microphone.
Elder Scrolls voice actor Wes Johnson shares message of thanks after waking from coma to $175K GoFundMe: 'I love you all. I'm not going anywhere'
Baldur's Gate 3 player character made to resemble Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher.
Wait a minute, Geralt of Rivia actor Doug Cockle was in Baldur's Gate 3 this whole time
Mark Darrah
BioWare veteran calls out the 'cruelty' of fans celebrating layoffs: 'You are crossing a line, and you're probably attacking the wrong person anyway'
Astarion, a beautiful vampire spawn in Baldur's Gate 3, looks dubiously at the player character.
'What do you mean real actors?': Astarion's VO, who shared an awards category with Idris Elba after Baldur's Gate 3, remembers the dark ages of mocap
Latest in Dragon Age
Dragon Age Dreadwolf antogonist, Solas the elf, with a huge wolf walking next to him through smoke
Dragon Age voice actor says his favourite way to play Inquisition is as a woman who romances himself, which is apparently 'the best'
BioWare has reportedly lost at least half its staff, with fewer than 100 people left and the studio a ghost of its former self
Dragon Age character Varric looking confidently forward
'Dragon Age isn't dead because it's yours now,' former BioWare writer reassures fans: 'EA/BioWare owns the IP but you can't own an idea'
Morrigan, the Witch of the Wilds in the Dragon Age serries, shown wielding magic in front of a Darkspawn.
Is this the end of Dragon Age? Veilguard was good, but BioWare needed an all-timer, and I'm nervous about what's next
Dragon Age: The Veilguard - Lace Harding looks inquisitive in a dark inn
Dragon Age: The Veilguard game director departs BioWare after 18 years at EA after an offer to build a new RPG she 'couldn't turn down'
Cullen from Dragon Age: Inquisition stares at the player amidst a snow-cloaked backdrop.
Dragon Age voice actor arrested on multiple charges over allegations, including revenge porn and harassment
Latest in News
Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer still - woman in the front seat of a car, looking out the back window while holding a wad of cash
The specter of a GTA 6 delay haunts the games industry: 'Some companies are going to tank' if they guess wrong, says analyst
Image for
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide’s getting a new roguelite wave defense mode that sounds a whole lot like a souped-up take on Killing Floor
Battle Brothers
Nearly 2 years after its last update, the excellent Battle Brothers gets 'a bucket load of fixes' and free new content
Western outlaws with masks and guns
'Players don't explore': former Grand Theft Auto 6 and Red Dead Online designer lays out the perils of 'open world fatigue'
Person battling bizarre four-eyed monster with stylish UI elements surrounding them
Persona and Metaphor: ReFantazio's UI designer is open to accessibility options for players who find the stylish menus overstimulating: 'That is something we understand we'll need to work on and provide in the future'
Split Fiction screenshot
Split Fiction is reportedly at the center of a bidding war for its movie rights