NEW BRUNSWICK — A 31-year-old Old Bridge man will spend 28 years in prison for strangling his mother to death under a plea agreement.
Frank Polera, 31, pleaded guilty on Jan. 29 to aggravated manslaughter in the death of Patricia Polera, 61, on Nov. 26, 2016, under a plea agreement reached with Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Scott LaMountain and Middlesex Assistant Prosecutor Vanessa Craveiro, according to a statement provided by Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey.
Police were called to the victim’s home on Kirschman Drive on Nov. 26, 2016, at 8:48 p.m. to find the woman had been killed in the home she shared with her son, officials said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Polera was charged following an investigation by Police Detective Addie Spinola of the Old Bridge Police Department and Detective Joseph Chesseri of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office after it was determined that he caused the death of his mother.
An autopsy by the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office showed the victim died from asphyxiation by compression.
This term is subject to the No Early Release Act. Polera will have to serve 85 percent of his prison term before becoming eligible for parole.
Polera is scheduled to be sentenced in New Brunswick by Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez Jr. on March 27.
