WESTWOOD, N.J.—Police Chief Michael R. Pontillo put out the call for additional possible victims to come forward after announcing the arrest of Ravi Kumel, of 583 Broadway, on a charge of criminal sexual contact. Kumel was arrested on Feb. 17 without incident.
In a Feb. 20 press release, Pontillo said his department received information on Feb. 17 that Kumel, while working as a gas station attendant at a business on Irvington Street, “forcibly and inappropriately touched a 30-year-old victim.”
An investigation by the Westwood Police Department’s Detective Bureau, under the direction of Lt. Mark Foley, revealed that Kumel made criminal sexual contact with the victim and then solicited sex by offering to pay the victim money.
Kumel was charged with one count of criminal sexual contact, a fourth-degree crime, and scheduled for a first appearance in Bergen County Superior Court, Central Judicial Processing, March 8.
Pontillo said that the defendant is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The Westwood Police Department is asking anyone with information or who may have been solicited/approached in a similar manner to contact the Westwood Police Department Detective Bureau at (201) 664-7008 or via jhurtuk@westwoodnj.gov.