Accused Of Rape, Fired Firefighter Hires Weinstein Defense Lawyer

DEERFIELD, IL — A longtime North Shore firefighter has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman in Deerfield following a nine-month investigation, according to police and court records. The firefighter denies the allegations. He has filed a union grievance over his firing and hired one of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's lawyers to defend him in court.

Cory S. Powers, 40, of the 200 block of Deerfield Road, turned himself in to Deerfield police on July 12 to face a charge of aggravated criminal sexual assault. Later that day, Powers provided the $75,000 cash portion of his bond and was released ahead of trial on the conditions he not possess weapons, not consume alcohol or drugs and not have any contact with the woman he is accused of raping, records show.

Weinstein, 67, a Hollywood film producer, is awaiting trial in New York City on criminal charges he raped women in 2006 and 2013. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on $1 million bail. Weinstein has denied all allegations of nonconsensual sex. Accusations of sexual misconduct from dozens of woman against him contributed to the beginning of the #MeToo movement a year before Powers' arrest. The defense attorney retained by both Weinstein and Powers has described herself as a skeptic of the movement.

The Lincolnshire-Riverwoods Fire Protection District and the Deerfield Police Department conducted independent investigations after a resident of the area reported in October 2018 that Powers, an acquaintance, had raped her in her home the prior month, according to police and fire officials.

Powers is accused of showing up at the woman's back door late on the night of Sept. 18, 2018. Police were told he came in and made himself a drink. The woman went to bed, telling Powers he needed to leave, police said. Instead, Powers forcibly assaulted the woman, causing bleeding and bruises that were later seen by detectives, according to Cmdr. Juan Mazariegos.

"She acted like any normal victim would," Mazariegos said. "We've got the pictures, we've got the text messages that he sent her." Investigators were still awaiting the results of some forensic testing when prosecutors approved the charges last month, he said.

Detectives obtained search warrants for Powers' DNA, cell phone, location data and home security system records in November 2018. An analysis of the phone Powers handed over indicated he had deleted all the information and reset the phone about a week after the incident — the same day he learned of the accusation, according to police.

Information provided by his cell phone company showed that Powers began using a different phone, downgrading from an iPhone X to an iPhone 8 within 60 days of the reported rape. Phone records showed Powers called in sick to work at 3:19 a.m. on the night of the incident, and his home security records suggest he armed the system at 3:42 a.m., detectives learned. Powers denied being at his accuser's house on the night of the incident, according to police.

Powers spent 12 years working for the Lincolnshire-Riverwoods Fire Protection District, where he earned more than $100,000 in total compensation last year. He previously worked as a part-time firefighter for the Northbrook Fire Department for seven years before resigning in October 2009, records show.

Lincolnshire-Riverwoods Fire Protection District Chief Tom Krueger said Powers was placed on administrative leave after he learned of the allegations last year and terminated in May by the district's board of trustees following a disciplinary hearing conducted by its legal team.

After his arrest, Powers replaced his Waukegan-based attorney Steve Simonian with prominent Chicago-based Donna Rotunno, who has extensive experience in sexual misconduct cases. She has handled more than 40 such cases since 2003, according to a profile in Chicago Magazine last year. The 44-year-old Wheaton native told the magazine that she had the "ability to get away with a lot more in a courtroom cross-examining a female than a male lawyer does."

Rotunno, who has not responded to a request for comment for this story, will be joined by fellow local criminal defense attorney Damon Cheronis in Weinstein's trial on charges of rape, criminal sexual act and predatory sexual assault next month in New York. Several of Weinstein's attorneys have withdrawn in recent months, with one alleging in a filing that the former movie producer has "deliberately disregarded our fee agreement."

In Illinois, aggravated criminal sexual assault causing bodily harm is a class X felony, carrying a mandatory minimum sentence of six or more years in state prison. Powers is due back in court Aug. 20 in Waukegan for a preliminary hearing.