In the spring of 2018, a Kanosh firefighter had something to tell Scott Corry, then the town’s fire chief and a sergeant at the Millard County Sheriff’s Office.
Corry’s son, Austin Corry, had been raping the firefighter, alleges the woman and law enforcement in various court records. The firefighter told the elder Corry during a return trip from Beaver and recorded the conversation, according to the records.
Scott Corry didn’t do any of the things peace officers should do when they receive such a report, new criminal charges against him say, nor did he immediately acknowledge the reports to the detectives who eventually investigated his son. Scott Corry, 62, was charged Wednesday in state court in Fillmore with a felony count of obstruction of justice and a misdemeanor count of official misconduct. The felony carries up to 15 years in jail.
Scott Corry did not return a phone message seeking comment Wednesday, nor did attorneys representing him in a related lawsuit. The court docket does not list a lawyer for him and indicates he will receive a summons to appear. No court dates were scheduled as of Wednesday morning.
Austin Corry, 27, has already been charged with 15 counts of various sexual assault charges. He has pleaded not guilty in one courtroom, where a judge in April ordered him to stand trial on 14 of those counts, a court docket shows. A trial has not yet been scheduled.
A rape charge is pending in a separate case. Corry has been in jail in lieu of $30,000 bail.
The Salt Lake Tribune generally does not identify victims of sexual assault. The alleged victim has said Austin Corry raped her at the fire station in Kanosh and elsewhere from 2015 and into 2018.
The charges against Scott Corry say after the victim told the volunteer fire chief and sheriff’s sergeant what happened and played a recording of one of the assaults, Scott Corry said “they would take care of it and Scott Corry would figure out how to handle it.”
But the charges say Scott Corry did nothing and his son sexually assaulted the firefighter again in August 2018.
“Scott Corry deceived the victim... into believing that he would aid her and report the crime," the criminal charges against him say.
After what the alleged victim says was another rape in August 2018, she reported the assaults elsewhere. The Utah County Sheriff’s Office investigated to avoid conflicts for the more-local law enforcement.
On Aug. 22, Scott Corry accompanied his son to an interview with detectives in Provo. After the younger Corry was arrested on suspicion of rape, a detective questioned Scott Corry. The charges against him say the father “again failed to disclose previous reports and previous knowledge of the rape and sexual abuse.”
Later in the case, investigators talked to Scott Corry again.
“Scott Corry admitted he had heard the audio and had talked with [the victim] and told her they would figure it out,” the criminal charges say. “Scott Corry made a statement about it being time for him to retire and that he was also trying to protect his son and he never got around to it. Scott Corry said in the interview he never notified his chain of command and knowingly committed an unauthorized act which purports to be an act of his office or refrained from performing a duty imposed upon him by law by concealing reports of rape made to him about his son Austin.”
The Utah Attorney General’s Office filed the charges against Scott Corry. The Millard County Chronicle Progress has reported he left the Millard County Sheriff’s Office in October.
The firefighter who says she was raped in April filed a federal lawsuit against Kanosh, Millard County and Scott and Austin Corry. That lawsuit is pending.
