New Jersey police chief, former police chief accused of predatory acts while on duty in separate cases
MANVILLE, N.J. -- A current New Jersey police chief and a former New Jersey police chief face criminal charges in separate cases for alleged sexual misconduct while on duty.
Andrew Kudrick, who once led the Howell Police Department, is accused of having an affair with a police department employee and making unlawful efforts to conceal it once the township started investigating. The attorney general on Wednesday announced charges including official misconduct and tampering with public records.
"According to our investigation, the defendant went so far as to threaten to launch an improper internal affairs investigation of a high-ranking member of the police force who had knowledge of the affair and planned to reveal what he knew to the special counsel," New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said.
The AG says that witness was a police captain.
"Falling into political disfavor does not make you a criminal. Andy is well respected in law enforcement and the community of Howell Township. He intends to vigorously defend against these charges," defense attorney Robert Honecker said in a statement.
In Manville, Somerset County, Chief Thomas Herbst has been on administrative leave since a lawsuit was filed last year by one of his alleged victims, but Wednesday, he was arrested by state law enforcement and appeared before a judge on charges of sexual assault, official misconduct and criminal sexual contact.
The AG says Herbst engaged in sexually predatory behavior for more than a decade and targeted multiple women. The AG claims he even went to at least one of his victims' homes.
"The defendant regularly groped, exposed himself to and sexually assaulted an employee of the police department between 2008 and 2021. He did this often, allegedly often while he and the victim were on duty," Platkin said. "He defendant allegedly ordered the victim at one point to wear skirts."
Those women weren't just those he worked with, but, according to the AG, the chief allegedly abused his authority to solicit sexual favors from the wife of at least one subordinate in exchange for a promotion.
"Herbst would solicit sexual favors from the wives of subordinate officers in order for those officers to receive favorable employment decisions and opportunities," Platkin said.
Herbst, on the job since 1991, denies the allegations.
"He has never engaged in any non-consensual or coerced or forced sexual behavior with anyone, period, whether they worked with him, whether he worked near them or in any situation, he never did that," defense attorney James Wronko said.
Herbst was released from jail and has a court appearance in May.
Town officials from neither Manville nor Howell did not get back to us with a comment. Both men face prison time and tens of thousands of dollars in fines if convicted.