A former Chicago cop charged with multiple felonies after three women accused him of inappropriate sexual behavior while on duty has cut a deal with prosecutors that allows him only to plead guilty to misdemeanors. Corey Deanes, 48, received two years of probation in the deal, although the judge permanently revoked his Illinois law enforcement certificate.
Deanes, a 14-year veteran of the force, was a beat cop in the Lakeview-based 19th (Town Hall) Police District when three separate women accused him of improper behavior as he patrolled the neighborhood and nearby Lincoln Park in the summers of 2017 and 2018.
Prosecutors initially charged Deanes with three felony counts of official misconduct, felony aggravated battery, and two misdemeanor battery counts.
In a deal approved by Judge Angela Munari Petrone, prosecutors reduced the official misconduct counts to simple battery and then dropped the remaining charges in exchange for Deanes’ guilty plea. According to court records, Petrone sentenced him to two years’ probation and ordered his law enforcement certificate’s permanent revocation.
Accusations
The first woman to accuse Deanes of wrong-doing said she saw a CPD squad car down the street as she left work in the 2500 block of North Clark on August 28, 2017. Moments later, Deanes allegedly pulled her over near Lincoln Park Zoo and accused her of making an illegal turn.
According to the state’s allegations, Deanes led the 23-year-old woman to a dark area near the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and asked her to step out of her car. She complied, and Deanes began asking her about her relationship with a male co-worker that she left the restaurant with — and he told her she would get a ticket if she did not provide him with her phone number.
Deanes raised his arms and motioned for the woman to hug him, but she put up her hands to block him, the woman said. Deanes allegedly moved in closer, slid his hand down her back, and touched her buttocks over her clothing. The woman pushed him away, and Deanes laughed, offering a handshake before he drove away, she said.
Deanes was not working with a partner on the night in question. GPS on the patrol car he used that night was “inoperable,” investigators found.
Almost a year later, on July 1, 2018, a 29-year-old woman called police to help remove a homeless man from her porch as she returned from work around 11:30 p.m. in the 600 block of West Barry. Even though Deanes answered the dispatch with a radio call that indicated he had a partner, the victim saw only Deanes standing outside her home when she approached him.
Deanes complimented her clothing and grabbed her by the wrist to expose shorts and a tank top that she was wearing under an outer layer, prosecutors said. When the woman told Deanes that she was working late to pay her rent, he began searching her for money, “putting his finger in the front right pocket of her shorts and pulling it open,” according to allegations.
The state’s proffer said Deanes did not activate his body camera for the call and investigators found that his patrol car was not GPS-equipped. Prosecutors did not reveal where Deanes’ partner was at the time of the alleged incident.
Less than two weeks later, on July 13, a 22-year-old woman was walking on Clark near Fullerton when she saw a marked police car pass by. As she arrived at her nearby apartment, the patrol car pulled up behind her, and Deanes lowered his window, calling her a “pretty little thing” and asking why she was walking alone, prosecutors said.
Deanes got out of his car, grabbed and hugged the woman, and then asked for her phone number, and for a date, the woman alleged. The woman laughed, backed away, and went inside as Deanes returned to his patrol car, prosecutors said.
Inside, the woman called the 19th District station to report the incident. A sergeant responded to her home and launched an initial investigation.
Prosecutors said GPS on Deanes’ car show that he was near the 2300 block of North Clark at the time of the third incident. Video from a nearby business corroborated aspects of the woman’s allegations, according to the state. Police dispatch records indicate that Deanes worked with a partner that night, too, but prosecutors did not say where the partner was at the time of the alleged incident.
A CPD spokesperson last year told CWBChicago that the department wouldn’t comment on whether Deanes actually had partners during the two incidents in 2018 “as it speaks to what could be classified as witness information.” The department also would not say if any of Deanes’ partners on the night of reported incidents were being investigated for failure to report his alleged conduct.
Deanes was reassigned from the 19th District eleven days after the third incident. The department stripped him of police powers and assigned him to a unit that takes police reports over the phone. The city suspended Deanes’ pay immediately upon the filing of felony charges last year, the department said. He is no longer listed as a CPD employee.