Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey announced today that a 31-year old man from Old Bridge has been sentenced to serve 25 years in a New Jersey state prison for strangling his mother to death.
Officials said Frank Polera, was sentenced today in New Brunswick by Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez Jr., for causing the death of Patricia Polera, 61, on November 26, 2016.
The prison term is subject to the No Early Release Act. As such, the defendant will have to serve 85 percent of his prison term before becoming eligible for parole.
According to authorities, Polera pleaded guilty on January 29, 2018 to aggravated manslaughter in the death of his mother. The plea was entered before Judge Jimenez after the defendant reached a plea agreement with Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Scott Lamountain and Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Vanessa Craveiro.
An investigation by Detective Addie Spinola of the Old Bridge Police Department and Detective Joseph Chesseri of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office determined that that the defendant caused the death of his mother.
An autopsy by the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office showed the victim died from asphyxiation by compression.
Police responded to the victim’s home on Kirschman Drive on November 26, 2016 at 8:48 p.m. to find the woman had been killed in the home she shared with her son. Authorities said she was pronounced dead at the scene.