A 25-year-old man has been accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl in the locker room of a public pool on the Northwest Side where they both worked as lifeguards in 2018, prosecutors said Thursday.
Hector Coz appeared in court Thursday before Judge Charles Beach, who set bond at $275,000. Coz, who is charged with criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse, will need to pay $27,500 in order to be released until his next court date on May 25.
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Coz became the second person charged criminally in the wake of a scandal at the Chicago Park District that led to the resignation of CEO Mike Kelly. The Park District’s Office of Inspector General in 2021 detailed a probe into assault and harassment allegations in the lifeguard program over several years.
At least seven cases of alleged sexual assault were reviewed, according to a report on the matter, and some 15 employees were fired, resigned or were asked to step down. The inspector general also found leadership failed to act on accusations within the program.
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Charged last year was onetime Park District lifeguard supervisor Mauricio Ramirez, who was accused of the sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl.
In court Thursday, Coz was also ordered on electronic monitoring.
“You’ll be on house arrest in Cook County. You can’t leave unless Sheriff Dart gives you permission,” Judge Beach told Coz.
Coz and the alleged victim first met in summer 2018 when the girl was 17 and she began working at the Park District’s Jefferson Park pool, where Coz was her supervisor and in charge of scheduling shifts. Coz would often make sure they worked together, prosecutors said.
At first, Coz began making inappropriate comments, according to the allegations.
Around July or August 2018, they worked the same morning shift when only a few people would be at the pool.
One day, just before work, she went into the girl’s locker room to change and when she opened the door to leave, Coz allegedly was standing there. He walked into the locker room with her and locked the door and began sexually assaulting her while pinning her against a locker, according to prosecutors.
She said no multiple times, but the assault continued until she was able to get away, prosecutors said.
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The teen didn’t initially tell anyone about it, but in August 2020 she told another female lifeguard, also employed by the Chicago Park District. This lifeguard allegedly told her that Coz had touched her the same way, and also in the same locker room, back in 2016, prosecutors said.
Before making his ruling, Judge Beach noted that while no charges had been filed with the earlier victim, that victim’s situation “lent credibility” to what allegedly happened to the current victim, who is now 21.
Additionally, Beach said Coz, who was in a “position of power” made sure he would be “isolated” with the victim and by locking the door, he was further able to confine her.
A public defender representing Coz said this was his first arrest and he lives in Naperville with his fiancee. Formerly he did live in Cook County for about nine years. After graduating from Prosser Career Academy in 2015, he attended Illinois State University, where he studied to be a Spanish translator, the public defender said.
Coz is employed, and also volunteers as a DJ for community events. The public defender contended there was no physical evidence the assault happened and the complaint made by the victim was delayed.
