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New Jersey State Police were in the middle of a raid on a Paterson house, seizing more than thousands of dollars worth of prescription drugs and a large amount of cash, when they found the 44-year-old woman and arrested Michael Mendez.
Mendez, 42, pleaded guilty today in Superior Court in Paterson to criminal restraint and drug possession, with the intent to distribute it, within 1,000 feet of a school.
Under the terms of his plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend that Mendez not be eligible for parole for 18 months of a five-year sentence.
Authorities said they believe the woman may have been at the Alois Place apartment for long stretches over the course of two years.
They said Mendez was grabbed outside the house. Once inside, State Police found 150 prescription anti-anxiety and pain pills for which he had no prescription (alprazolam and hydrocodone), nearly 7 ounces of marijuana and more than $22,000 in cash, State Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa said this afternoon.
The woman was immediately taken to St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Paterson.
Deputy Attorney General Annmarie Taggart took the guilty plea for the Divison of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 28.
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