It didn’t take long for the obvious to dawn on first-term state representative Nick Sauer. The Illinois Republican resigned his office hours after a Politico story exposed allegations that he had posted nude photos of his ex-girlfriend on Instagram. Ironically, Sauer served on the state legislative committee that oversees issues of sexual harassment:

The resignation Wednesday of young and upcoming Illinois State Rep. Nick Sauer serves as a reminder of the seriousness of revenge porn allegations.

The freshman lawmaker—a member of the House Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Task Force–didn’t get through his first term in the legislature before revenge porn allegations came to light Wednesday, ending his career prematurely.

A Politico story published Wednesday morning alleges Sauer used a fake Instagram account to send private photos of his ex-girlfriend, Katy Kelly, to other men.

Sauer, according to the allegations, lured the men into thinking they were chatting with Kelly, and coerced them into “engaging in graphic conversations of a sexual nature.”

Kelly had filed a complaint with the state legislature about Sauer’s attempts at “revenge porn,” which apparently succeeded in generating harassment of Kelly. The inspector general’s office refused to confirm or deny an investigation into the matter, but Kelly told Politico all about it and gave them a copy of the complaint:

In that document, Kelly alleged Sauer used the Instagram account “to catfish other men using my privately shared naked photos. Nick would use this account to direct message men with my photos to engage in graphic conversations of a sexual nature. The men believed they were communicating with me and Nick shared private details of my life.” …

In an interview with POLITICO and in her IG complaint, Kelly claimed the two began a long-distance relationship in 2016 after meeting on the dating app Tinder. She moved to Chicago from California in June 2017 to be closer to him but the couple broke up in March 2018, after Kelly says she discovered he had been dating other women.

Both are unmarried.

“The man that I loved and honored for over two years unfortunately did not exist. Until I moved to Chicago to be closer to him, he and I would share very private photos with each other, as many couples do,” she said in an email when asked to comment about the complaint, referring to his alleged behavior as a “betrayal” that has “sickened” her.

Sauer’s next task could be to look for a way to stay out of prison, a career path that might not be all that unusual for Illinois politicians even if the catalyst here is unique. Illinois law makes revenge porn a felony, the local CBS affiliate points out, which means that Sauer has a lot bigger problems than finding a new career. The potential penalty is one to three years in prison and a $25,000 fine per count.  The statute appears to apply very clearly to this case if prosecutors can establish that Sauer posted the photos to the Instagram account, especially since the posting added Kelly’s identity and contact information. The last part would demonstrate a particular malice, one that would definitely get the attention of a judge at sentencing.

If Sauer did it, then he certainly has it coming. Revenge porn is a despicable act of cowardice and betrayal, and thanks to the dynamics of the Internet and file-sharing, a never-ending cycle of victimization once it starts. The report from the legislative inspector general’s office will be very, very interesting to read when it gets released.