Old Bridge man sentenced in mother’s death

Susan Loyer
Courier News and Home News Tribune
Frank Polera of Old Bridge was sentenced to serve 25 years in a New Jersey state prison for strangling his mother to death.

OLD BRIDGE - A 31-year-old township man has been sentenced to serve 25 years in a New Jersey state prison for strangling his mother to death, Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey said in a statement Thursday.

Frank Polera, was sentenced Thursday in New Brunswick by Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez Jr. 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 term before becoming eligible for parole, the statement said. 

Polera pleaded guilty Jan. 29 to aggravated manslaughter in the death of his mother. The plea was entered before Jimenez after Polera reached a plea agreement with Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Scott LaMountain and Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Vanessa Craveiro.

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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 Polera 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 at 8:48 p.m. Nov. 26, 2016 to find that the woman had been killed in the home she shared with her son. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Staff Writer Susan Loyer: 732-565-7243; sloyer@gannettnj.com