Howell Man Charged With Sexually Assaulting Woman In Her Home

A Howell Township man has been charged with aggravated sexual assault after he duct-taped a woman’s wrists and mouth and sexually assaulted her in her home last week, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s office said Monday.

Louis Kuka, 45, is charged with aggravated sexual assault, criminal restraint and aggravated assault in the May 5 incident, said Al Della Fave, spokesman for the prosecutor’s office. He is being held in the Ocean County Jail, Toms River, in lieu of $300,000 cash bail.

Della Fave said Kuka is accused of going to the home of a Jackson woman to discuss a personal issue with her. The victim told police that once Kuka was inside the home, he attacked her, covered her mouth with duct tape and then duct taped her wrists behind her back. Kuka then sexually assaulted her. After the assault, he removed the duct tape from her wrists and left, Della Fave said.

The Jackson Township Police Department was notified and responded, along with Detective Lindsay Woodfield of the Ocean County Special Victims Unit; Detective Stephen Capoano of the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department CSI unit, and Detective Robert Reiff of the Jackson Township Police Department, to secure and process the scene. The Ocean County Prosecutor’s High Tech Crime Unit also assisted in the investigation, he said.

The investigating agencies were unable to locate Kuka initially, Della Fave said, and Ocean County Superior Court Judge Rowe issued an arrest warrant for Kuka. Bail was set at $175,000 with no 10 percent, along with an order for no contact with the victim.

On May 7, Kuka surrendered himself to Detective Thomas Tiernan of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office and Jackson Township Police Department Detective John Rodriguez without incident, Della Fave said.

Superior Court Judge Joseph Foster increased Kuka’s bail to $300,000 cash only on May 8, he said.

(Photo credit: Ocean County Corrections Department)