The Rob Lowe extortion story is starting to get a little weird. Yesterday we told you how Lowe and his wife Cheryl were being extorted by a former nanny, who’d worked for them on and off for seven years. The nanny demanded $1.5 million from the Lowes, otherwise she was going to go to the media with a long list of “false terribles” as Rob put it. Instead of giving in to her pressure, Rob wrote about it for the Huffington Post. His article was pretty moving, and made you feel for anyone who was in his situation.

Today it was revealed that the Lowes sued the ex-nanny who was trying to extort them, along with another former nanny and a former chef. One employee being sue-worthy is one thing… it seems a little bizarre to sue three former employees. The three lawsuits are separate, and it doesn’t appear that the Lowes are accusing the three ex-employees of being in on anything together.

The actor filed three separate lawsuits on Monday against two of his former nannies and his former chef. In the complaint against one nanny, Rob’s lawyers say the woman accused Rob of “infidelity” and also allegedly claimed that he sexually harassed her and that his wife, Sheryl Lowe, was an “overly demanding” and “abusive” boss, who made “inappropriate comments of a sexual and racial nature” to her.

Meanwhile, the former chef is cited for having had sex on the Lowes’ bed “with third parties,” stealing prescription drugs from their medicine cabinet, breaking several security cameras and overcharging them for food. As for the other ex-nanny, she is accused of engaging in a scheme to spread “malicious lies” about both Rob and Sheryl. She also allegedly used “profane and vulgar” language to describe the “intimate and salacious” details of her private life. This is the nanny who Rob wrote is demanding $1.5 million “or she will accuse us both of a vicious laundry list of false terribles.”

[From In Touch]

According to TMZ, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff contacted the Lowes yesterday and offered to launch a criminal investigation into the criminal acts involved in the lawsuits. Rob responded, “Your involvement isn’t necessary. We’re going to handle the matter civilly.” That seems a little odd. Obviously they’re not handling the matter civilly because they want to keep it quiet. And it seems clear that they want to punish these former employees as much as possible, so it seems to make sense that they’d want to pursue criminal charges as well.

Considering Rob didn’t mention either of the other two employees in his article for the Huffington Post, nor did he mention that they were going to sue the extorting employee along with the other two, combined with the refusal of the sheriff’s help… it leads you to wonder what all is really going on.

Header of Rob Lowe at the 2007 ABC TV Upfronts in New York City in May. Images thanks to PR Photos.