Cop sexually assaulted woman on police property, prosecutor says

A Newark police detective from Manalapan has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman on police property — and suggesting he'd trade sexual favors for preferential police treatment.

Detective Kenneth Gaulette, 33, was arrested and charged with sexual assault and criminal coercion, acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray announced this week.

Authorities say that on Nov. 29 of last year, Gaulette forced a 40-year-old woman to perform a sexual act on him. He had been a police officer for nine years — laid off from the Newark Department in 2010 but returning to it in 2012.

Judge Ronald Wigler set his bail at $75,000 with no 10 percent alternative. Gaulette turned himself in, the prosecutor's office said.