Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — The assistant chief of the Kanosh Fire Department has been charged with raping a fellow firefighter under his command on multiple occasions.
Austin James Corry, 26, of Kanosh, Millard County, was charged Wednesday in 4th District Court with two counts of rape and two counts of object rape, first-degree felonies; five counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony; and five counts of sexual battery, a class A misdemeanor.
The assaults date back to 2015 when Corry pulled the woman into the cab of a truck at the fire station and told her he wanted to "mess around," according to charging documents.
The woman said she told him no, "but he ignored her and pulled her legs toward him, forcing her onto her back. She continued to protest until he held her by the neck" and raped her, the charges state.
In addition to an alleged second rape shortly after the first, court documents say Corry groped and inappropriately touched the woman on several occasions between 2015 and 2018.
In April, Corry asked the woman to come to the fire station "for some paperwork. When she arrived, he had no paperwork, but he grabbed and held her" and inappropriately touched her, the charges state. But this time, the woman, fearing something might happen, had an audio recorder running on her cellphone.
"On the recording, (the woman) can be heard repeatedly telling Corry 'no,' and to 'stop,' but he ignores her and continues to sexually assault her," the charging documents say.
On Aug. 20, police say the woman recorded another sexual assault.
When officers questioned him about the incident, "he admitted that she said 'no' five or six times. Corry also described another occasion when they had what he initially characterized as sex, but after admitting she kept telling him she needed to go and he continued to engage in sex, he acknowledged that it was actually 'rape,'" the charges state.
"Firefighter Corry has been placed on administrative leave from all his duties, suspended until the outcome of the investigation," the Kanosh Fire Department said in a prepared statement to KSL.
