Sentenced for $92K theft, Colts Neck tennis coach now charged with threatening judge
FREEHOLD Former Colts Neck youth tennis instructor Terry Kuo, already serving a 56 1/2-year prison term for molesting a 12-year-old student, was back before a judge Tuesday, this time to be sentenced for stealing close to $100,000 from a close family friend while she was undergoing cancer treatment in China.
Kuo pleaded guilty to impersonation in February, admitting he assumed the identity of the family friend with the purpose to defraud her of more than $75,000.
Although Kuo, 32, demanded to take back his guilty plea Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Marc C. Lemiuex wouldn't allow it and sentenced him to the seven-year term called for in his plea bargain.
LeMieux and an assistant Monmouth County prosecutor also revealed that Kuo now faces a new charge of harassing a judicial official.
That charge stems from allegations that Kuo was overheard talking about paying to have someone killed, just as his retrial in the child sex case was about to begin last year before Superior Court Judge Jill Grace O'Malley following a hung jury months earlier.
O'Malley said at the start of the retrial in September that Kuo also was overheard talking about the make, model and license plate number of her car and where she lived, and also made reference to "a judge's son being killed.''
Kristen Anastos, assistant Monmouth County prosecutor, said the new case against Kuo also includes charges of retaliation and threats and will be heard in Middlesex County.
Kuo was belligerent when addressing Lemieux prior to his sentencing on the impersonation charge.
In a loud but raspy voice, the defendant denied committing the crime and claimed he was forced into pleading guilty.
"I did not take money from this woman,'' he insisted. "She signed a check to my house on her own behalf. I do not steal money from people. That's not how I was raised.''
His plea bargain called for the seven-year sentence to run concurrent to the 56 1/2-year term imposed by O'Malley in the sex case, so he won't be serving any more time than what was already imposed. The plea bargain also called for dismissal of two other cases, a child pornography case and a stalking case. In addition, Kuo's parents, who were also charged with him in the identity theft case, are being allowed to enter a court diversionary program, so they won't have criminal records.
Despite that, Kuo demanded he be allowed to take back his guilty plea.
"I was under duress,'' Kuo told Lemieux. "I was forced, coerced and physically assaulted into signing this plea. I'm here today letting you know, regardless of your decision, it's not going to outpower other powers in the multiverse. I'm letting you know. I'm looking to take back my plea. Leave my family out of it.''
Kuo insisted a cellmate at Trenton State Prison got a hold of his court papers and learned of the identity theft case against him, and beat him to force him to plead guilty.
Lemiuex said Kuo mentioned nothing of this other person when he pleaded guilty in February, and he reminded the defendant that he spent many hours going over the plea bargain with him so that he could decide what was in his best interests.
"I told you over and over again, I did not care if you wanted to go to trial or not,'' the judge told him. "It was your choice.
"You're making accusations again,'' Lemiuex told him. "You're making them against the court, you're making them against the victim, you're making them against the inmate. It's always somebody else's fault except yours.''
At that point, Kuo accused the judge of being disingenuous.
"Your face changed because you're two-faced,'' he told Lemieux.
Lemiuex cut him short.
Noting there was a news camera in the courtroom, Lemiuex told Kuo, "So you had your two minutes of fame. It's on video.''
Lemiuex then proceeded to impose the sentence.
The plea bargain called for Kuo to make $92,760 in restitution to the victim, the amount Anastos said he pilfered from the woman's account while she was undergoing cancer treatment in China after living for some time with Kuo's family in their Colts Neck home. But Lemieux said Kuo wouldn't have the ability to repay the money because he will spend much of the rest of his life in prison.
The lengthy sentence is the result of his conviction at trial before O'Malley of 14 crimes related to molesting and taking pornographic photos of one of his tennis students when she was 12 and 13 years old.
Kuo stood trial on those charges in July, but that jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. At his retrial in the sex case in September, the jury convicted Kuo on all counts.
Prior to those two trials, another judge was forced to declare a mistrial in the case when Kuo urinated in the courtroom in front of prospective jurors during jury selection.
Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues and just about every major murder trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at khopkins@app.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: New charges revealed at Colts Neck tennis coach's theft sentencing
