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Sandra and Mark Pelicot, both of Main Street, were arraigned in Hackensack today on five separate counts of an indictment returned against them three months ago.
Mark Pelicot, 30, also pleaded guilty to a probation violation stemming from a 2011 burglary charge.
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Pia Sheperd told Superior Court Judge Edward A. Jerejian that investigators found more than five pounds of marijuana and $161,435 in cash that “a reasonable person would believe to be derived from criminal activity” in the Pelicots’ home following a pair of sales to civilians on the grounds of a Catholic pre-school.
“There were thousands and thousands of dollars cash in the house, and drugs, your honor — serious weight of marijuana,” she said. “Two drug sales are documented, and he was already on probation.”
Sheperd offered Sandra Pelicot, 47, a plea deal that would send her to state prison for six years, with parole eligibility after three.
Mark Pelicot was offered a 12-year sentence with parole eligibility after six.
Their attorneys entered not-guilty pleas.
The Pelicots are officially charged with operating a facility for the manufacture of marijuana from April through May of 2013; possession of more than five pounds of marijuana with the intent to distribute it; possession of more than an ounce of marijuana with intent to distribute it on the property of Three Saints Preschool; possession of cocaine in Garfield on May 29, 2013; and possession of the $161,435 in cash.
Garfield police stumbled upon the alleged operation while arresting another man who had broken into the Pelicots’ home when they weren’t there.
STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter
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