A registered sex offender from New Jersey has been charged with multiple felonies after prosecutors said he allegedly kidnapped and assaulted a teen girl last month.
According to prosecutors, on Sunday, Sept. 29, the Manchester Township Police Department was contacted by a 14-year-old girl after she claimed an unknown man had sexually assaulted her.
Prosecutors said an investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit and Toms River Township Police Department determined that the girl had been walking on Route 70 in Manchester Township when she became lost. A man -- now identified as Kieth Hahn, 46, of Toms River, New Jersey --- stopped in his Jeep Grand Cherokee to talk with the lost girl.
The girl, according to prosecutors, had allegedly asked Hahn to take her to the animal shelter in Tom Rivers, but instead, he drove to the area in Toms River and sexually assaulted her.
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Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673.
Hahn then drove the girl to a Walmart in Tom River; she exited the vehicle and ran home, prosecutors said.
After an investigation into the incident, officials determined that Hahn -- a Registered Megan’s Law Offender -- was the individual responsible for sexually assaulting the victim.
Prosecutors said on Oct. 1, detectives executed court-authorized search warrants on Hahn’s residence and motor vehicle. He was taken into custody at his home without incident and transported to the Ocean County Jail, where he awaits a detention hearing.
Hahn has been charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, kidnapping, luring, and endangering the welfare of a child.
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