87-year-old who strangled wife to death charged with molesting new victim

An 87-year-old man who strngled his wife to death a quarter-century ago is now accused of exposing himself to and molesting a victim.

Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony Kearns said  Meroslow Dudiak of Lebanon was charged with exposing himself and third-degree sexual contact after a joint investigation with Lebanon Township police, and is being held on $25,000 bail at the Somerset County Jail.

No other details about the incident were released by Kearns.

But MyCentralJersey.com reports that Dudiak admitted strangling his wife Valerie to death in 1990 in their Mansfield (Warren County) home and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

Dudiak, 62 at the time of his wife's death, had been married to her for 30 years, the report said. He pleaded guilty to  aggravated manslaughter, avoiding a potential 30-year sentence for murder, it said.

At the time, according to the report, his defense argued at sentencing Dudiak was suffering from mental illness and severe depression, and had never been violent.

Authorities are asking anyone with information about the recent incident to contact the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victim’s Unit at 908-788-1129.