Gary Kearns (Atlantic County Justice Facility)
An Ocean County was sentenced to four years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman he met on a dating website.
Gary M. Kearns, 56, of Brick, pleaded guilty in August to second-degree sexual assault.
He admitted that in August 2021, he raped the victim at a hotel in Atlantic City.
Kearns met the woman through Facebook dating, giving a false name, according to the charges.
He picked her up under the pretense of a date, and then took her to the hotel, where he assaulted her and then left her there, more than an hour from her home.
Kearns was sentenced Monday. He must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence, or about three years and five months, before he is eligible for parole.
He has served about a year and four months in the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
Kearns' criminal history includes a computer crime in 2016, for which he was sentenced to three years' probation, court records show.
He also has several violations of a domestic violence restraining order, including three in 2017 alone.
Kearns remains in the county jail pending transfer to state prison.
