Howell Man Sentenced For Sexually Assaulting Preteen For Nearly A Year
Friday, April 11, 2025, 11:15 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
HOWELL, NJ.- On Tuesday, a 54-year-old Howell, New Jersey, man learned he would most likely die in New Jersey State Prison after he was sentenced to over four decades in prison for sexually assaulting a Monmouth County preteen girl for nearly a year in his Howell, New Jersey home.
According to Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago, on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, John K. Cruz, 54, of Howell, appeared in Monmouth County Superior Court and was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Richard W. English to 41 years and six months in state prison, on his 2024 conviction.
In handing down the sentence on Tuesday, Judge English ordered the first 40 years to be subject to the No Early Release Act, which will require Cruz to serve 85% of his custodial term before becoming eligible for parole. In addition to the term of imprisonment, Cruz will be subject to parole supervision for life and be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law restraints.
Conviction And Sentence Stem From An Investigation
The conviction and sentence stem from an investigation that began when members of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Bureau, the Howell Township Police Department, and the Marlboro Township Police Department in October 2022, after the preteen girl informed her mother that Cruz, a longtime family friend, had sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions, both in his home in Howell, New Jersey and in her home in Marlboro Township, New Jersey.
Following the investigation, Cruz was taken into custody and formally charged with multiple child sex crimes. In October 2023, a Monmouth County Grand Jury returned a six-count superseding indictment against Cruz.
Following a bench trial last fall before Judge English, a Monmouth County jury found Cruz guilty on the charges of first-degree Aggravated Sexual Assault; second-degree Sexual Assault; third-degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child; and fourth-degree Stalking. The Stalking charge was the result of Cruz secretly placing a camera in the girl’s family home.
