Holbrook man gets 50 years in 2009 rape

Moments before a Holbrook man was sentenced to 50 years in prison Wednesday for raping a Holtsville woman in her garage, she listened as a Suffolk prosecutor read a statement she wrote detailing the damage it did to her life.

"I was raped not once, but so many times," the woman, 35, wrote in the statement read by Assistant District Attorney Carl Borelli. "The images haunt my days, my nights, my dreams . . . I am not a religious person, but I looked into the depths of hell."

As a result of the October 2009 attack by John Kluge, 25, the woman said she suffers from insomnia and fatigue, and even the rustling of leaves can momentarily terrify her.

"He viciously and savagely attacked this young woman in the confines of her own home," Borelli said in court. "Let's not forget the disgusting, vile comments he made to her as he raped her."

The woman testified during the trial that Kluge taunted her about her then husband.

Kluge was convicted last month of first-degree rape, first-degree criminal sexual act and first-degree burglary. Suffolk prosecutors have said Kluge was a sexual predator who stalked numerous women in the area.

His attorney, Gregory Grizopoulos of Westbury, said Kluge still insists he's innocent and will appeal the verdict and the sentence. He said Suffolk County Court Judge Barbara Kahn erred in giving Kluge consecutive sentences for his convictions, because the crimes were committed as part of one act. In such cases, the law requires concurrent sentences.

Kahn and Borelli, however, said each crime was a separate act, allowing for consecutive sentences. As the sentencing concluded, tears flowed on both sides of the courtroom, from the woman's friends and family, and from Kluge's.

"I think a higher court will likely modify that," Grizopoulos said of the sentence afterward. He said his client was "upset" by the conviction and had thought a jury would have seen how aspects of the police investigation were improper.

The early morning attack on the woman as she left for work was part of a pattern for Kluge, Suffolk prosecutors said. Although Kluge was only tried for this rape, authorities describe him as a "sexual predator" who stalked women in the Holbrook area.

In some cases, he broke into their homes and stole their underwear and photos of themselves, which he kept in a safe in his bedroom, authorities said.

In one case, he was spotted crawling furtively across a woman's living room floor before he was chased away, authorities said.

The victim in this case picked Kluge out of a lineup after his arrest, and a car resembling his was spotted near the crime scene by a neighbor.

The victim testified that her attacker came into her garage as she was walking out and punched her in the side of her head. He then forced her to perform sexual acts.