NEW BRUNSWICK — A 31-year-old Old Bridge man will serve 25 years in prison for strangling his mother to death in 2016, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey.
Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez Jr. sitting in New Brunswick sentenced Frank Polera on March 29 for causing the death of Patricia Polera, 61, on Nov. 26, 2016.
The prison 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, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Polera pleaded guilty on Jan. 29 to aggravated manslaughter in the death of his mother. The plea was entered before 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 were called to the victim’s home on Kirschman Drive on Nov. 26, 2016 at 8:48 p.m. and found the woman had been killed in the home she shared with her son. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
